I have just started writing a new book which is is in the mixed genre of horror and fantasy just like ‘Haunted at 4:12’ which I mentioned elsewhere on this site and which is nearing completion. I have only written 2 chapters of ‘On a Wintry Evening,’ but it is already taking shape and I believe the opening augurs well in terms of the overall storyline.
The story opens with a couple who live in a cottage in the middle of nowhere. As evening approaches the husband who goes by the name of Orlando senses a strange atmosphere in the air and he believes something momentous might happen. This is only a feeling on his part with no real substance behind it but it is there nonetheless. He informs his wife of his feelings but she thinks he is being dramatic and believing something is there when there is nothing. Her name is Josephine.
Before long the wind picks up and brings with it a heavy snowstorm. As Orlando peers outside he thinks he can see a figure standing by a tree. He cannot be sure it is there as a strange mist surrounds the figure making it difficult to make out. This mist is like nothing he has ever seen before. It constantly changes colours. Eventually, his vision clears and he sees that the figure is a young girl. He cannot understand why the child would be outside on a horrible night such as this, especially so as the nearest neighbours are miles away. How did she get there? he wonders.
Before long he is putting his coat on and heading outside. He collects the girl and brings her inside. As he and his wife try to warm the girl up, they try to get what information they can from her but she is not the talkative type. She tells them her name is Annabel and as Josephine gives her some reviving soup she starts to talk about ‘the others.’ This mysterious utterance gets both Orlando and Josephine wondering. Who could these others be? And why are they so important to Annabel?
Orlando suggested that he go back outside to see if he can find these ‘others’ but Annabel tells him it is useless and that he wouldn’t be able to find them. Events then take a really strange turn with the girl informing them that she comes from another world. It is a fantasy land where tropical trees abound and waterfalls gush into idyllic ponds of water. Bright flowers abound everywhere and there is a natural self sufficiency for the inhabitants of this land owing to vegetable plots, rice fields and livestock. But it soon becomes apparent all is not as it seems in this land. The beauty of the surroundings comes at a cost.
It turns out that a long-standing curse hovers over the inhabitants of this land. This is something Annabel only became aware of after living in this land for a time. She had been lured away by a couple when playing outside her home. Josephine asks her why she would go away with strangers. Hadn’t her parents warned her against doing something like that? The girl tells her that her parents are too busy with their careers to worry about her. She is treated like baggage by them and so she is delighted to go off with this lovely couple who seem to be so nice.
At first everything is wonderful for Annabel in this new land. But before long she notices that her new guardians are not all they seem. She hears howls one night and discovers the couple she had taken to be sweet and loving had turned into werewolves. But this is only the start of the horror she has to endure. She terms the couple shape-shifters who can change their form very suddenly and alarmingly. She tells Orlando and Josephine that the curse started many generations before when an unruly element entered the neighbourhood. They were the worst kind of humanity. Everything from rapists to murderers to thieves. The cast a pall over the neighbourhood and it was through them that the curse came into being.
I will be providing excerpts of this novel as I go along with the writing of it. It’s turned into an exciting project for me. When I began the story I was not sure where it would take me but it is developing nicely and I look forward to sharing with you further details of the storyline as I proceed with it.
Categories:My Horror Updates
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