Chapter 5
After sunset, the wind whipped the night. The old cottage creaked and groaned again with a deep agony that echoed in my bones. I thought about our quiet moments in that cavern to keep the screams at bay. And in that place between asleep and awake, the wailing seemed a chorus of song that sang me into dreams of the cosy living room.
An ember escaped the fireplace, taking root in the rug. We stamped it out in a frenzy and pulled the whole thing away from the fire, revealing a hatch in the floor. Beneath it we found stone stairs leading into the earth, through the foundations of the building, down and down into a long corridor lined with torches, ending in a cellar lined with shelves of wine.
On their labels, the letters flowed into each other, glowing like the lace network of the slime mould. I looked closer and fell into an abyss of words, into which tumbled the sound of rosebush branches tapping on a window. When I climbed back up into the cellar, it was no longer filled with wine, but with bones stripped of flesh, and skulls long hollowed and dried.
This time, it was my own scream that woke me.
Jarrad appeared at the bedroom door, wide-eyed, clutching two mugs of coffee.
“You all right, Case?”
Morning light poured through the window. The walls were wood; the shelves were shelves bearing local trinkets left by guests. No wine, no bones of the deceased.
“Just a bad dream.”
“Told you not to have all that cheese after dinner.”
He handed me a mug and climbed back into bed. We cuddled and passed the morning with puzzles from an old newspaper.
Lunch was a picnic in an old cow paddock—meats, fruit, cheese and local wines we’d picked in the village yesterday. We stayed for hours under the pleasant sun, dozing, laughing, then drunkenly stumbling back up the hill, late afternoon. I collapsed on the couch while Jarrad bombed around the house.
“Have you lost your marbles, babe?” I giggled, drunkenly, at my own joke.
“Hey.” He materialised in front of me. “Have you seen my camera?”
“Not since yesterday, why?”
“I think I left it in the cave. I’m gonna go get it.”
“Now? I’m so groggy. Can’t we do it tomorrow?”
“Forecast says it’ll rain tonight.” He stands up. “You stay here. I’ll be quick.”
“Jarrad, no…”
“Don’t worry, Casey. It’s still light for ages.”
I knew I was being silly. My Jarrad was perfectly capable of functioning by himself in the great outdoors. He was a hiker, a trekker, a camper; he was even in the Army Reserves for a while. He’d be fine. I was the one who couldn’t hack being alone.
“How bout if I text you as I go?” he offered.
“You don’t have to text me. It’s fine.”
“I will, though. And I’ll make dinner when I’m back, okay?” He kissed me and went to put his boots on. “Love you.”
“Love you, Jarrad.”
He texted me from the edge of the property. Then again from inside the cave. By the time he would have found the glowing cavern, I was dozing off, wondering what I’d done to deserve such a thoughtful guy.
_
|-|
|~|
|:|
.'.'.
/ ::\
|_____| __ _
|:.:;.| <:__:> .-'o\
|_____| \ ::/ .o' O. o\
| ::| '..' |--o.--o--|
| ;:| || |._._o_._.|
\_____/ .''.
'----' pjb