Story View
| Report This story | Share With A Friend | |||
| Other Works [Books] [Stories] [Articles] [Poetry] [News] [Reviews] [Press Releases] | ||||
|
||||
| All I could hear was a dog barking. Nothing else. I looked towards the others and, although I could see their lips moving as though they were conversing I could hear nothing. Just the dog. Four short sharp barks, a gap, then the four barks again. Repeatedly. It sounded quite a way off. I held my hand out palm upwards and looked at it. I brought it up closer to my face. I could see the shape ghostly pale but without detail. I turned my hand round and round in front of my face. It didn’t feel like it was part of my body although I did seem to be controlling it. I let my arm fall down to my side and lifted it again. I was controlling it – but it felt detached from me. I looked down at my feet. I moved them and felt the gravel through the soles of my shoes, but I didn’t feel that I was standing on the ground. I was weightless. I looked up and realised that it was getting dark. The others were no longer to be seen but I could still make out the line of the trees and hedges against the blue black sky. I moved along the track staring straight ahead of me at a rectangle of light which stood out from the surrounding darkness. The rectangle turned into bars of light as I approached until I could see finally that a wooden five-bar gate blocked the path. To the side of the gate there was a gap between it and the hedge-line. I rested my hand on top of the gatepost. It felt as though it was covered in a film of oil. I passed my hand over it again, sliding easily across the surface. And then I could hear the sound I was making – like a knife on a sharpening stone. I stopped rubbing and listened. I could no longer hear the dog barking. I heard nothing but a high light whistle inside my head which increased to a screech then settled to a low hum. I ran my hand across the top of the post again and the rough wood scratched my palm. Ahead I could see the others standing apart – dark silhouettes against the moonlit river beyond. I walked towards them floating across pebbles of blue and yellow light which flickered on the ground in front of me. I reached the river’s edge and stood there with the others. Nobody talked. A mist began to roll in from the opposite bank. Clouds of green and purple billowed out from the pale grey moving mass. My feet felt wet as though I was standing in six inches of water. I looked down at the ground and the mushrooms of blue and yellow stood all around. My feet were the size of pillows surrounded by the little jellyfishes of light. Now all of my clothing felt wet. I reached inside the pocket of my coat for my cigarettes. I put one in my mouth but I didn’t light it. My lips felt rubbery and devoid of sensation as though I had been playing the trumpet. I pulled out the cigarette and dropped it to the ground. I crushed it with my foot and rubbed it into the dry sandy soil. The blue and yellow lights had gone. I looked across the river which was now half enshrouded with mist. A pair of ducks moved past upstream leaving a twinkling wake. An owl hooted. I picked up a stone and threw it as hard as I could towards the other bank. It plopped quietly into the water behind the curtain of mist. “Shall we go? “ Henry said. We walked back to the car and drove back to town. The lights of the streets were very bright as we passed through. I was dropped off at my house. Everything looked different as I walked through the familiar rooms and along to the bedroom. I sat on the bed and looked at myself in the dressing table mirror. My face was bright red as though I had been running. My hair began to grow around my head until it became like the mane of a lion. I opened my mouth wide and bared my teeth. I wasn’t tired but I didn’t want to be awake any longer. I turned off the lamp, lay down on the bed and closed my eyes. Bells chimed in my head and flashes of light danced behind my eyes. In the night dragons chased me up spiral staircases like they did when I was a child. PLEASE REVIEW |
||||
| Other Works [Books] [Stories] [Articles] [Poetry] [News] [Reviews] [Press Releases] | ||||
| Reader Reviews for A night by the river | ||||
|
||||
| Other Works [Books] [Stories] [Articles] [Poetry] [News] [Reviews] [Press Releases] | ||||
