The Horror House

By Dave Branford

Dave Branford

The Horror House

 

 

Horror novel

An old house, a door to nowhere, behind which people disappear in another world and a mysterious sect that believes to find their paradise there and preaches the apocalypse - these are the ingredients of this supernatural thriller by Dave Branford.

 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: BEKKERpublishing
• Release date: Jan 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393452911

Book preview

Dave Branford

The Horror House

––––––––

Horror novel

An old house, a door to nowhere, behind which people disappear in another world and a mysterious sect that believes to find their paradise there and preaches the apocalypse - these are the ingredients of this supernatural thriller by Dave Branford.

© by Alfred Bekker

www.AlfredBekker.de

[e-mail]

All rights reserved

A CassiopeiaPress Ebook

Year of issue of this edition: 2010

***

He floated in a state between existence and non-existence. His body was dead, moldering under the hot sand of a distant world. A world, in whose sky two moons stood.

His body was decaying, but his spirit was still alive.

Filled with sheer desperation.

Despair over one's own lack of strength.

He knew that his powers would dwindle. That also his consciousness would dissolve sooner or later into nothing. No matter how much he resisted it. He clung to life in a way that could be observed again and again in a special subgenus in the realm of the dead.

We are talking about those who were murdered.

It was hatred that kept his consciousness from dissolving. It forced not to dissolve, but to form a unity at least on the astral level.

Now and then he returned to earth. Overcame space and time. An abyss of infinity, filled with the maelstrom of the stars.

And cold. And nothingness. The absolute nothingness.

But they were no more than weak mental signals that reached the earth. Signals that could easily overcome the abysses of time, space and all other conceivable dimensions, but were too weak to really become manifest.

Apart from traces.

Traces that the particularly gifted were able to fleetingly perceive.

At best.

His name was Jay Darrington.

He had been called the magician.

*

We were on the run.

It was cold and dark.

The smell of damp mold rose penetratingly in the nose and the feeling of fear crept up my back and let me shiver. My hands felt over the cold, somewhat damp walls of this tunnel, which seemed to lead straight into infinity.

Into nothingness.

I felt my heart beating up to my throat. The unpleasant feeling of being trapped was mixed with the suspicion of standing at a border.

A border into a mysterious shadowy realm....

Nameless horror lay behind us, but what lay ahead was certainly no more reassuring....

Shivers had seized me.

I wonder what's at the end of this tunnel, I heard Mike Blane say, my significant other. They called him the demon hunter. Officially, he acted as a private investigator. He embraced the Mana Crystal, with the help of which he was able to locate magical energies.

The amulet glowed.

An unmistakable sign.

I have no idea, I whispered.

Mike had a small flashlight with him, which was our only source of light besides the mana crystal.

The glow of the lamp fell briefly on the face of the third person who was down here with Mike and me in this gloomy, dungeon-like tunnel. It was a woman with a pale face and red-rimmed eyes. I didn't know her, and the next moment she was nothing more than a shadowy outline again. Naked fear had shone from her eyes.

Hey, what's that? is what I heard Mike say. No way...

What's wrong?

Suddenly it was completely dark. The light was gone and I felt like a blind person.

Mike?

No answer.

I activated my magical senses.

Without success.

Nothing but darkness lay before me and a cool breeze blew over to me. I felt cold sweat on my forehead and in the next moment I heard the shrill, terrible scream of a woman's voice, which went through my body.

I closed my eyes, although it made no difference at that moment.

*

No!

I felt the grip of strong hands around my shoulders, holding me and shaking me.

Then another terrible scream reached my ears and it took me a few seconds to register that it was I myself who was screaming.

I opened my eyes and tried to escape the grip of these invisible hands.

In vain.

Then I saw a figure emerge from the semi-darkness in front of me. It was a man.

I swallowed, gasped for breath, and then slowly calmed down a bit.

Jane! said the figure. Jane!

The sound of that voice was familiar and actually calmed me down a bit.

Someone shook me.

It was none other than my life partner Mike Blane. I was in his London apartment.

Safe.

You were dreaming, darling! You were only dreaming! I heard him say and slowly I realized that he was right. I sat upright in my bed while the moonlight fell in from outside, bathing everything in a pale, ghostly light.

The frightening dream images were still vivid in my mind's eye. A slight tremor ran through my entire body.

It's over! I heard Mike say in an imploring voice. Do you hear me, Jane? It's over!

I know! I whispered.

Mike eyed me. The moon was reflected in his eyes.

It was one of those dreams that has to do with your gift as a shaman, wasn't it?

It was not really a question that came from Mike's lips, but already a half statement.

I don't know, I said. Maybe it was just a nightmare.

Then he would hardly have taken you like that.

I took a deep breath and rose. First I went to the window, looked out, and then turned a few steps sideways to turn on the light switch.

I squinted as the light came on and shone glaringly into my eyes.

It hurt a little, but it was good, because now I felt I had finally escaped the terrible shadow world of my nightmare.

Did I shout very loudly? asked I.

Mike nodded.

Yes.

I'm sorry, but it was all so... I hesitated, searching for the right word. ...So real! I finally completed. I had the feeling that it was really happening!

Mike had now stood up as well. She saw me and asked, Do you want to tell me what happened in your dream?

You think it has meaning, don't you?

Yes, Jane.