Kevin's Watch

This is another untitled one I wrote a few weeks ago, shortly after Mist.

Announcement: This has been removed in my great purge of 31/8/05. I may send any or all of these to genre publications, and I don't want any issues because they're available here for free.

I decided to post this after the story in order to avoid spoiling anthing (not that I think it's great, but I still want to maximise it). In the same way that Mist was an exorcism of personal demons in places, this is too. The first couple of paragraphs are an account of a recurring experience I had for a little while, and was still having at the time I wrote this. I haven't had it since. Odd.

I found I still have this, which I wrote to pass some time one day, so i thought I might as well stick it here. I apologise in advance for the monkey, it just sort of popped out


Plagued by echoes of shame, Dan followed his meandering route amidst the fallen homes populated by desolate silence. Incongruously to his eyes, a topiary in the shape of a monkey loomed through the cloying veil, menacing in its veiled mundanity. Such signs of vital civilization discarded and lost threatened to revive old sorrow. Choking on his ancient guilt, Dan moved on, pricked by recrimination from the spectres that lived only in his mind.

The eerie calm filled even the open spaces of the city, yet Dan’s overwrought conscience populated the silence with clamouring voices, and the coils of cadaverous fog seemed to ward the dead, keeping them hidden just beyond sight. Passing listlessly through the central square, Dan flinched and shied from the glaring structures at the edges of his vision. He feared their blame, the accusations of the only remaining denizens of this ruined realm.

Now he came to the destination he had longed to avoid, yet had approached with every step since his return. The font of his guilt was sited here, and he must face it now, compelled by his own dark sense of justice. Within, he found the room where so much began, and more ended. The room where it all must end now. The ghosts of his shame harried him, crying their mournful revenge in his ears. They demand balance, they demand justice, they demand recompense. Dan offered them all he could give. Opening both remaining canisters, he sighed heavily and the shades of his deeds released him at last.

Incognito - this is marvellous. I love the visitor entry!!!! Well done. I think some of the lines need re-editing, but overall it works very well. I had goosebumps reading it and it was a shame it ended, actually!

Thank you It was chilling writing it. Reading through it now, it reminds me of James Herbert. How odd.

It's chilling to read it. Dont stop man - you have a great imagination.

Heh. More creepy experiences required...

Even creppy ones!

Those too