He Came Back

By David E. Gates

When a villager returns from the war, strange events begin to affect the inhabitants who believe the soldier has brought back a curse with him...

• Language: English
• Publisher: David E. Gates
• Release date: May 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005464820

David E. Gates

David E. Gates has published several books and short-stories. His first book, Access Denied, is a true story.  A deeply personal and heart-wrenching account of becoming a father and having to fight the mother and Family Courts to see his daughter and also battles against the incompetence and lies of the Child Support Agency who seem hell-bent on ruining him, emotionally and financially.. It has garnered 100% positive reviews. The Roots of Evil, his first horror novel, is a graphic, violent, intense and gore-laden horror story. His second fictional novel, The Wretched, is an original horror story set in and around Portsmouth. David has made a documentary film about the battlefield memorials in Ypres, Belgium called Ypres – The Battlefield Tours and previously wrote film reviews for Starburst and Samhain magazines and interviewed the likes of Clive Barker, Terry Pratchett, James Herbert and many others. He has also written many short stories and poems, a full-length motion picture screenplay, the screenplay to a short film and in his spare time hosts a rock radio show. Also by David E. Gates: Access Denied The Roots of Evil The Wretched Omonolidee First Words Unzipped: The Mind of a Madman The Projectionist A Planned Demise The Ghost of Clothes Fixing the Faker The Christmas Carol Omonolidee - Morgado, Portugal, 2018. Two Sides of Vegas

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HE CAME BACK

Copyright © 2021, David E. Gates

Cover Artwork Copyright: © David E. Gates

Published by Shelley Show Productions

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means - whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic - without written permission of both publisher and author.

Unauthorised reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Also available by David E. Gates

Books

Access Denied

The Roots of Evil

Omonolidee 

First Words

The Wretched

Unzipped: The Mind of a Madman

The Deeper Roots of Evil

BD’s Big Diet Book

Short Stories

The Ghost of Clothes

The Christmas Carol

A Planned Demise

Omonolidee – Two Sides of Vegas

Omonolidee – Morgado, Portugal, 2018

Fixing the Faker

End Request

Motorcycle Man

The Shitty Chalet

Screenplays

The Projectionist

Films

Ypres – The Battlefields Tour

Coming Soon

The Climbing Frame

Cinema

Dedication

For the Villagers

He Came Back

The war had raged for more than four years. It had a devastating effect on those that were left in the village. Several soldiers, enlisted when the conflict began, never returned. The graves at St. Leonards Church in the tiny village of Hartley Mauditt, reflected the number of widows and orphaned children left to mourn.

One soldier, thought to be missing in action, returned suddenly on a bright, sunny afternoon on the tenth day of May, six months after the war ended.

In the nearby pub, The Hanger - thought to be named after the man responsible for hanging those put to death on a site within the grounds of the pub in and around the 1500’s – people talked in hushed tones.

He came back. One whispered.

He looks different, Said another. Something off about him.

War changes people. The first whispered quietly before supping their ale.

Their voices were silenced when the door to the pub opened. Everyone in the establishment looked towards the entrance as the soldier entered.

The landlord was first to break what appeared to be an awkward silence as the soldier let the door close noisily behind him.

Reg, welcome home, He said, trying to be amicable but not too cheerful given the circumstances. What can I get you? On the house.

The soldier approached the bar.

Bitter. He said quietly, his voice gruff. The landlord started pulling the pint and, on doing so, the hubbub of the place resumed albeit under quieter terms.

The landlord placed the pint on the bar and the soldier took it, nodding his thanks, and took a swig, his moustache becoming covered in froth, before moving to a nearby table and sitting alone.

He came back. A voice, of a young girl sitting unseen behind the bar, said.

Hush now. The landlord said, admonishing the child that had uttered the words. The pub fell silent as it had when the door had opened.

The couple that had been talking about the soldier prior to his entry, stared at the man who sat alone. He was sat, his eyes unfocused except for when he took a drink from his pint, trying to ignore the unwanted attention he was getting. After a few moments of the constant surveillance, he finished his pint and stood up and walked to the table at which the two women who’d been staring at him were sat.

I just came in for a quiet pint. He whispered to them,