This includes my story Scrap, set in Edgebottom, concerning the activities of two brothers who set out to make some money for themselves by scrounging scrap metal and make the mistake of breaking into derelict houses in the notorious slums of Grudge End.
This is a short extract from it:
"Which was when he caught sight over Eddie’s shoulder of the body curled beneath the kitchen sink. It looked bloated, its utilitarian feminine clothes straining against swollen, elephantine limbs; something wet had spread across the linoleum from under the body like rancid syrup that had dried into dark brown, yellowish crusts at the edges.
Gary turned away
from it, felt his stomach begin to cramp, before he threw up against the wall.
Whatever he had eaten all day was heaved onto it, splashing his jeans. Abandoning
the pram, Eddie blundered into him. His face looked bleached and scared. He
could barely speak, gesturing at Gary
to get out of the house while making inarticulate sounds at the back of his
throat like a strangled hen. At any other time Gary
would have laughed at him, but now he turned and scrambled onto the street.
Rain showered his face as he stared up at it, gasping for breath. Drops of it
washed away some of the vomit from his lips, but not enough. He could still
taste its acidic bite.
He saw Eddie staring at him, his eyes grown huge and
frightened.
“It had no head.” His brother’s voice barely more than a
whisper..."
No comments:
Post a Comment