THE
TRUTH WILL ASTONISH US
The power had been out for just
over two hours in the little village of Bridewood in England when the
mysterious humming sound commenced. Power cuts weren’t really a frequent
occurrence, happening perhaps once or twice a year if that, but it didn’t take
Joshua Berryman longer than a quick glace at the other houses in the road to
deduce that that’s what was occurring.
He
slumped onto the sofa, grabbed his Kindle Paperwhite from the coffee table and
continued reading the travel book he’d been working through for the past few
weeks. Now seemed like the perfect opportunity to see that percentage rise and
allow himself to visualize being deep in the Amazon rainforest, in an alien
environment, mellowed and detached from the blackness around him, bringing him
closer to departing for his next non-fiction journey; a trek along the
Appalachian Trail by one of his favorite travel writers, Luke “Lucky” Derekson.
The power cut was rather a blessing
in disguise; Joshua needed some time to relax. He’d given blood a few hours
earlier in the mobile NHS Give Blood
van that visited every few months and he was a little fuzzy from the loss. He
was rather the celebrity blood donor in Bridewood, being a vehicle for the more
rare rhesus negative blood type that anyone could be given in a transfusion.
There were only around a thousand inhabitants in the village and he was once
told by the nurse that there were only a few in the area who had the particular
type. He only knew of one himself – Mike, the landlord of the local pub, The
Poacher, who he’d seen a couple of times at the mobile over the years. It made
him feel a little special. Of course, there were doubtlessly quite a few others
but they just didn’t give blood. He thought that a little selfish of them,
given the benefits that their blood held.
He
pulled off the small cotton pad on his arm where the needle had gone in and
looked at the tiny wound. It was too dark to really see anything. There were
candles in the house and flashlights but he didn’t perceive the outage lasting
for more than an hour so he pocketed the cotton, eased back into the chair and
stared into the other world through the illuminated page.
The cold reptile skin slithered across my
exposed hand as I tried to sleep…
An
hour had passed; the passage in the book unsettled Joshua so he decided to
venture upstairs to peer out from the bedroom window where the view overlooked
a much wider area than anywhere downstairs. From here he could see the entire
village, as well as the miles of rural landscape leading up to the Moorcroft
Mountain range some thirty miles in the distance.
There
was nothing but darkness from the village to the mountains. This sure was one
hell of a power cut, he mused as he opened the window, letting the chilled
evening air drift lazily into the room.
In
spite of the debilitating lack of electricity Joshua felt rather freed-up as he
eyed the dormant landscape before him. Like he was the King of the Castle; the
King of all the land. It seemed a little strange that nobody else had taken to
using other means of illumination to ease the oppressive blackness. He knew
people had candles; he sold candles
for Christ’s sake! For the past twenty years Joshua had run a small gift shop
on the main street, stocking a range of items that were all made locally.
Initially
he’d set up the shop with his wife, back when the whole venture had seemed like
a whole lot of fun and for many years it had been. But when Elizabeth suffered
a massive heart attack in the little stockroom at the back of the store the
light in his life had gone out more pervasively and it had become more of a
joyless burden. He’d considered selling it and moving on though he had no idea
where to move on to. Ultimately he’d welcomed the distraction the cluttered
little abode provided and publically said, “She’d have wanted me to carry on,”
but inside he didn’t believe in any of that nonsense. He wanted to carry on to
maintain his sanity.
Joshua poured himself
a whiskey and settled back down with his real-life adventure story. Since
Elizabeth’s passing the adventure had disbanded from his life and so he’d
replaced it as best he could. Maybe one day he’d quit everything and set out on
the Appalachian Trail, just like Lucky Luke. It was an idea; and would probably
remain just that.
He’d carried on
reading for half an hour before jumping up from his seat in slight annoyance
that everywhere was still pitch black. He contemplated picking up the phone to
see if he could glean from the power company when the electricity was likely to
come back on. He’d intended to watch a movie in bed and his projected bedtime
was looming ever closer. A feel good movie was called for, as usual. Something
escapist. He’d had enough of hearing the “bad” news these days – people blowing
each other up, driving vehicles into innocent pedestrians, all the wars,
fighting, killing, threats, the launching of test missiles. It sure felt like
the world was going to tear itself apart one day soon.
TAKEN FROM THREE TALES OF TERROR
BY KILLIAN H. GORE
Features three terrifying short stories... CREATURE FOOD - Something lurks in the depths of Carrison Pond. When two boys see a strange creature emerge from the black waters they plot to give their cruel neighbor the fright of his life. ROOM 274 - The Golden Dome Hotel in Alaska is a very mysterious place. Room 274 has been locked to the public since the 1970s. YouTuber Jacob Donaldson acquires an old book featuring the hotel and ventures out to uncover the secrets of the room they call The Last Room. THE TRUTH WILL ASTONISH US - It started with a power cut but more than just the lights go out in the small English village of Bridewood. They first landed here 30,000 years ago and… changed us. Tonight their motives will become shockingly clear.
Praise for Killian H. Gore:
“A finely written book by the master of horror” – Joseph Kiel
“A well crafted mystery” – Jack Rollins
“Gore and more! Fantastic book!” – Karen Mulcahey
“Creature Food is brilliant!” – John Judge Jefferies
“Another fab read from the great Mr. Gore” – Patsy Hamling
OUT TO BUY NOW FROM AMAZON - PAPERBACK AND KINDLE
The
Truth Will Astonish Us Copyright
© 2017 Philip Graham Hamer writing as Killian H. Gore
