gloomy night - a gothic short novel

The night at the Cathedral

Two weeks had now passed since Henry was murdered. And Margot still didn't have the smallest clue on who could have done such a horrible thing.

They were living in a very small town. It wasn't a village, but here, everybody knew everybody. There was one market, that took place in main street every wednesday, and the cathedral was the only big building here. There wasn't even a mayor's office, as she was an old lady nearly unable to walk and who'd rather work at home. The only thing that could seem strange or spooky was the stories told by the old men on the public place, stories of demons and nasty spirits living in the nearby forest that surrounded the town. But apart from that, life was as normal and peaceful as it gets. If you'd came here, you would immediately feel like you were just transported into a lullaby, as people were so nice. Nobody here had a motive, nor the guts, to kill someone as respectable as Henry.

After another day just full of dead ends and interrogations of people who didn't have a single clue about what happened to Mr Carey, Margot came back to her house, sighing since this story really started to get on her nerves. All that she learned was that Henry had been stabbed, and that Carol apparently had a very weird foreboding nightmare about it. No one else knew about that, and that was why, tonight, in hope to end this weird case once and for all, the young detective decided to go back to the cathedral, at night, to sense the atmosphere there and see if the place could reveal any leads she might have left behind the first time she went through it.

And so there she was now, at night, hitting the silent streets of the town. In the dark sky, the full moon was glowing, however hidden by the grey clouds, enlightening the silhouette of Margot entering the cathedral.

The young woman headed toward the very heart of the construction, the nave, when Mrs Carey and she had found Henry days ago. Even without the sinister ambiance that the corpse had brought there the last time, she felt like the place was still a little chilling, even dreadful. She took a deep and long breath, tried to focus on what she came here looking for, and started searching this huge room for any kind of clue, that could tell her something about this eerie murder that no one understood.

It was now nearly one am, and Margot had still found nothing, not even a single drop of blood. She gave up on it, thinking that, after all, she'd had more chance in the morning, when it would be light to help her see better.

So she sat on the floor, exhausted, and as her eyes began to close, she felt the moonlight passing through the stained glass windows, brightening the place a bit more.

She stood up and left her cold spot near the wall to go where the moonlight was the strongest, this new light motivating her again to continue her search.

Yet she couldn't even have the time to thank Goodness for its help that she fell on the floor. She tried to stand up again but it was impossible: she couldn't effectuate a single move, it was like something was paralysing her.

She felt a strange strength hitting on her back, and pulling something away from her body. She started to scream as the pain became unbearable, praying for it to stop as she felt like she was broke, literally, inside.

However, soon enough the strength just disappeared, and she could be on her feet again. She looked around her, all around the nave, looking for the cause of what had just happened, and immediately noticed some weird things.

First, the wind. There wasn't any wind when she got here, but now it felt like a whole storm was raging outside. She was pretty sure she even heard some drops of rain falling against the walls and stained glass windows of the construction.

And secondly, there was now some kind of strange light, kind of green, dark blue and grey, enlightening the room. It nearly seemed as if something magic just took place in here.