FEAR STALKS THE CATHEDRAL CLOSE . . .
The time passed slowly. After a while he pressed fingers to bleary eyes. He had enjoyed little sleep of late. Shifting uneasily in his chair, he became suddenly conscious of a vague feeling as of an alien presence there in the room. Moments later a slight sound brought him to dreadful attention.
There was a shaving-mirror stood next to the table. Something in the corner of his eye, something he saw reflected in the glass, had given him rather a shock. It was the wardrobe that stood against the wall behind him. The door of the wardrobe, which had been closed, was seen to be opening, its hinges a-creak, mouse-like. This had been the slight sound.
He recoiled in alarm. Framed in the doorway was a blackened, shriveled mass -- a grisly, horrid, wasted thing, more like a diseased mannequin than a man. Two gleaming orbs like points of burning coal, twin lamps of lurid crimson deep-sunk in withered sockets, regarded him from the stealthy dark of the wardrobe.
Waves of horror washed over him. The thing was beyond all comprehension -- hellish, foul, abominable.
With panic urging him to flight, he lurched up out of his chair. The next he knew a bony, claw-like hand of steel had slammed down on his shoulder. He gave an involuntary cry. Then his face dimmed like a snuffed candle, his eyes rolled glassily in his head, he took two or three steps, sagged and, melting down like lard on a hot griddle, knew no more . . .
THE THING IN THE CLOSE
T H E N E W W E S T E R N L I G H T S B O O K
by Jeffrey E. Barlough
A Gresham & Doyle Trade Paperback
ISBN 978-0-9787634-6-6
272 pages / $14.95 U.S.
Publication: December 4, 2018
Available online from Amazon.com
ACCLAIM FOR JEFFREY E. BARLOUGH AND THE WESTERN LIGHTS SERIES
"Impressively well written by a gifted original novelist...an absolute master of the fantasy/mystery genre." -- Midwest Book Review
"A mesmerizing delight." -- Orlando Sentinel
Featured image: Detail from Hereford Cathedral (oil on canvas), by John William Buxton Knight (1843-1908). (Bradford Art Galleries and Museums, West Yorkshire, UK/Bridgeman Images)
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