The Yorkshire seaside town of Whitby may have been firmly put on the tourist map, thanks to Bram Stoker and his vampiric anti-hero, subsequently becoming a North of England Mecca for all things Gothic or Steam Punk, but take a 5 minute drive south from the prominent abbey and you’ll discover a place with a darker, and more factual, history.
Goodness me! I’m sure that when I posted Chapter 7 over a month ago, I apologised for there being such a long gap. So it seems a little lame to apologise for an even longer period without another installment.
Maybe I should recap? Can you remember what happened to Cooper last? It’s been quite an eventful couple of days for him, what with natural disasters, parental conflict and tales of fire demons on the loose.
However, we left him in the rather pleasing position of dunking biscuits whilst listening to some fanciful gossip from his friend’s mother. I obviously don’t want to spoil anything further, especially if you’ve not been with us from the beginning (which you can return to by reading Lacunae: Chapter 1 HERE by the way!)
Onwards to Chapter 8!
EIGHT
The cobweb twizzled in an air current blowing through the half-open door. Cooper lay staring up at the dusty dancer, doing his best to block out the incessant babbling from Trent, who was spouting crackpot theories as he practiced fighting skills on his Xbox.
It had taken a lot of self-control not to laugh in Mrs. Arnold’s face earlier, something Cooper achieved by giving no comment. But despite not wanting to appear rude, he wished he had told her just how ridiculous her tale of doom sounded because she seemed to think his silence was a sign of shocked acceptance, and continued to exercise her imagination to new levels. It made Iris’ rantings look normal.
And now her son was carrying on with the crazy lecture. Fuelled by a trail of anecdotal ‘evidence’ he had unearthed from a Google search for ‘fire demons in volcanoes’, Trent believed Ludlow Province was about to be besieged by an ancient, deadly deity that resided beneath the mountain, allegedly only surfacing to hunt when Neptune was closest to the Sun. Or something like that.
Hiking, bearded dragons, escaped crickets. None of these have anything to do with the plot of Lacunae – but they have prevented me from getting the next chapter out sooner. Apologies! 🙂
So, after a longer gap than normal, I’m back with Lacunae: Chapter 7!
If you missed Lacunae: Chapter 1, you can go right back to the beginning and read it HERE.
SEVEN
For the second time in as many days, Cooper stood outside Jenna’s, but his current pent up feelings had a different cause. Being given the cold shoulder and ignoring texts was annoying enough, but when he could hear her ringtone playing as he stood on the doorstep, well that was just…rude!
He knew Jenna liked stringing out any gripes she had with the world, snubbing the accused but loving the attention she got from updating her numerous social media profiles with tales of unfair treatment. Coop had been on the receiving end of her silent tactic plenty of times, yet when confronted face to face, she would generally address the issue, if only to show off her pouting theatrics and manipulate an apology – whether it was deserved or not.
Thanks to everyone who has been reading along, commenting or giving feedback on the previous chapters of Lacunae – it has really helped me focus on the task and keep writing! 🙂
And so onward, to Lacunae: Chapter 6!
If you missed Lacunae: Chapter 1, you can go right back to the beginning and read it HERE.
SIX
Saturday
Mount Ludlow had been spewing out the contents of Earth’s stomach for over eleven hours. Eleven hours, twenty-three minutes and forty-two seconds: Cooper’s pedantic mind was clocking the precise length of his house arrest, imposed on him for reasons he neither believed nor fully understood.
Hello all – time for Lacunae: Chapter 5!
Originally, this was going to be a prologue. Whilst I still like it as such, I’m hoping it works better to move the story along as a chapter. It has a completely different tone to the rest that I hope to develop for certain sections going forward.
I have posted it before, as flash fiction, although this has some additions – previous comments had wanted more details on the ‘characters’, which I’ve tried to address.
Anyway, hope you like it. As always, comments and you stopping by to read it are much appreciated! 🙂
If you missed Lacunae: Chapter 1, you can go right back to the beginning and read it HERE.
FIVE
Clouds rumbled overhead, heralding the arrival of rain. The first drops met the ground sporadically, evaporating on the scorched earth, yet soon began to fall with more urgency, each grounded drip attracted to another like a magnet. They quickly joined forces, grouping to form rivulets, as they forged an unrelenting path through the desert sand.
Spurred on by the legions of droplets rushing to join from above, the liquid fingers spread outwards, searching for cracks to explore. Downwards they groped, caressing the untouched rock, probing further. Once the route had been scouted, ahead of the torrent, the eager surge asserted control, breaking through into…
