Inside Evil

Chapter 13 - Part II

*Inside Evil and its sequels are available on Amazon, Kobo, B&N, Smashwords and iBooks*  

The first few pages had completely come away, and Susan carefully turned them and tucked them into the leather binding, before leafing through the journal to a piece of writing which was beautifully written.

I can only explain what I saw with no reasonable explanations. Once through the mirror, I found myself in the forest, it was raining and my feet slipped in all directions as I tried to climb the slippery mount to the peak of the bell. There was music in the air, I did not know where it originated from, perhaps it was even in my own head, but it soothed my spirit and I felt the most at ease than I had in a long while. The sun was at the most glorious that I've ever seen in all of my normal walks through the woods and though I did not recognise where I was, I was very aware that I was still close to home. The sun, in all its majesty, was lighting up the trees in a soft way, and though the rain continued to lash down, it lit up the wet surface of the bell like divine intervention. It's a beautiful thing, huge, bronze and it hangs in a very simple stone structure so as to show off its beauty in an even higher regard. How it got there I do not know, for it seems isolated and is staged well away from any other man-made structures. It seems to be very cared for and does not have a scratch or blemish on it anywhere. Very simple in its design, it has the most wonderful and intricate inscriptions around the bottom. Although I could not make out the language for the most part, several of the old lady's sayings were obvious to me and I read a number of times the words Gathin and Ammokra. If only I fully understood this Ammokra, perhaps I could then solve this puzzle, clear my head of these desperate thoughts and finally bring my mind back to the present. All I knew for sure was that, on this occasion, I was there to find the riddle that I was apparently set, though I had no clue of where to look and what I would find.

I remember placing my hands on the surface of the bell and tracing along the pattern, perhaps in some way it would help me, and in the wonderful way that followed, it did. As I ran my fingers over the wet surface, odd letters of scripture started to stand out. An A here, a T there, and in several places a number of conjoined letters. I could not work it out at first, until reading through the raised letters I realised, it was the bell that was giving me the riddle.

Susan flicked over the page and carefully studied the riddle that she'd read just once before. Barry had so patiently inscribed the words onto the page, taking an entire page to place the script.

Once upon another time a curse was set in stone

The entrance near a precipice

The doorway to hell's home

To find it look up to the moon

A glowing sphere you'll see

For eight days from that day past

We'll hear you shriek your plea

What does this mean? I understand that I must enter Gathin but how? And where? And at what time?

Here the passage finished and the remainder of the pages within the journal contained this riddle, written over and over again in different languages and orders as Barry had obviously tried to solve it. Susan cast her eye back over the riddle, "Once upon another time a curse was set in stone". Perhaps this was the Ammokra, this was the thing that had been killing all these people for so long. Whether or not Susan knew its name, she was sure that this curse was that which had taken her daughter's life, and so many before it. Naming the curse would not help Roberta though, and Susan continued to try and grasp the text which she had read.

Barry had talked about a place called Gathin. He clearly wrote that he had to enter Gathin.

"The woods." Susan looked at Martha who nodded knowingly. Susan knew that Barry had spent the most part of his latter days disappearing into the woods, and he'd clearly spoken of them again in this passage of writing. Susan was sure that the entrance to this so called Gathin had to be in the woods and from the riddle, it had to be near a precipice. But what was Gathin? Perhaps some ancient building or dwelling? Susan knew nothing of a bell tower anywhere near Ridgewood, and though Barry wrote of a precipice, Susan could only think of the hundreds of crags and cliffs that dotted the rocky landscape.

"I hope you have a good pair of walking boots," Martha said with a smile, "for it seems that you and I are about to take up woodland hiking."

*I will be posting one or two scenes a week as the story builds. However, if you can't wait that long, Inside Evil is available on Amazon, Kobo, B&N, Smashwords and iBooks.

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