The Hollow Places Read Online Free PDF

bargains,
impossible promises and lies, no-one had ever spoken to him this
coolly in such circumstances. His manner was detached, as though he
didn't much care about survival and he found this experience sad
not frightening.
    “This doesn't
have to be unpleasant,” Simon said. “Maybe we can make a deal.”
    “You don't
have anything to bargain with. I don't care what you've seen or
what you know or what you think you know. I've seen it all.”
    “Who are
you?”
    “I'm the one
who's holding all the cards. And if someone like me has all the
cards, what does that say about you, you dipshit? Go home,” he
said. “Tell Sarah you love her. Make her understand. Something's
coming. Make sure she understands. This is the warning I never
had.”
    The man
turned, heading to his car without a look back. Simon demanded his
name, but he had been right, he didn't have anything to barter
with. The man had known Sarah's name and yet was completely unknown
to Simon. There was little he could do but watch him crunch the
stones at the side of the road, open up his door and get
inside.
    Make her
understand.
    This is the
warning I never had.
    The Micra's
engine brought Simon round. He started towards the car, but skidded
on the gravel, falling to his hands and knees.
    “Wait!”
    The car pulled
away, bathing Simon in red light.

Chapter
Five
    The chicken was burnt. Sarah glugged down half a glass
of white wine, refilled it and then settled down to eat dinner on
her lap beside her brother.
    On the
television screen, giant spiders spilled from fast food containers
and shoeboxes, from under the bed and out of coffee cups,
ultimately clambering over cars and hedges, over people’s faces,
spinning webs the size of parasols between tree branches.
    Simon would
normally have been halfway through his meal by the time Sarah sat
down, but instead he chewed mechanically, thinking of the man by
the cliff.
    Make her
understand.
    This is the
warning I never had.
    He glanced
across at her. She had pried a small bone from a drumstick and was
stripping it with her front teeth. She worked quickly, but gave up
on it when it got difficult, discarding it on the edge of the plate
and moving on to the next.
    “Are you
really watching this?” Sarah asked. Simon nodded, his mind far, far
from home. “Can we talk now? About mum and dad.”
    He was
desperate to stall, not least of all because his attempt to clear
his head had made him more anxious. Echoing and burbling with
almost forgotten voices, he wanted to throw himself down and drown
amongst them.
    “Was it really
suicide?” Sarah asked. She assumed he had all the answers. Until a
couple of hours ago, he could almost have believed that it was
true.
    The cavern
yawned and his memory of their father's disappearance snatched a
breath.
    His father had
told him to look after his sister and then walked out of the front
door, leaving his keys on the hook. He had been the last person to
see him. His father hadn't seemed under duress. He had been
relaxed. Even relieved.
    “You'll be
alright,” he had said with a pat on his shoulder and then he was
gone without a look back.
    Sarah
discarded her meal on the table in front of them.
    Simon opened
his mouth to speak, not yet knowing what he was going to say, but
as he did so he felt the familiar squeezing sensation at the nape
of his neck, like a thumb and forefinger probing and then pinching.
He arched his back slightly as the shockwave ran down his
spine.
    As the
Creature made its presence felt within him, he focussed his mind on
his breathing, letting go of his personality, and his whirling
thoughts, letting the prospect of a tricky conversation about their
dead father to slip away. As the Creature took up residence, Simon
allowed himself to become empty. He had to become the servant
again. The vessel.
    So soon?
    He could feel
the nefarious sensation of the thing working its way into position.
He felt its 'fingers' climbing his vertebra, pressing on his