{"id":757,"date":"2018-01-25T18:05:14","date_gmt":"2018-01-25T18:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/?p=757"},"modified":"2022-10-26T11:46:40","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T11:46:40","slug":"gargoyle-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/gargoyle-iii\/","title":{"rendered":"Gargoyle III"},"content":{"rendered":"

part three of three by Joe Stanley<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

BRIEFLY, I SLEPT, DRIFTING BACK INTO THE darkness from some horrid and half-remembered dream. Drenched in sweat, my breaths heaved as my heart pounded in my ears. As I regained my composure, other sounds reached me. The gentle padding of rain soothed me just enough to catch what seemed like heavy footsteps plodding away down the hall.<\/span><\/p>\n

I feared that I might have shrieked and woke my host, though Maryanne lay motionless beside me.<\/span><\/p>\n

Quickly I slipped from the bed and stole to door. I listened, my temple pressed against the jamb. But I heard nothing from beyond and when I dared a timid glance, I saw nothing but the dim, moonlit hall.<\/span><\/p>\n

I chuckled to myself, wondering if I had missed my chance to spot a ghost. Little did I know that it would be the last time joy or laughter would escape my lips.<\/span><\/p>\n

The air was chill and the bed seemed to welcome me back to the soft, warm blankets. As I sat down, Maryanne rolled toward me and I had already leaned in to kiss her before I realized something was terribly wrong. Her eyes were open but they did not look to me. They stared unseeing as if upon something that rested beyond the sky. Her delicate, slender neck was marked by deep and brutal bruises, the porcelain flesh cold and lifeless.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then I must have screamed as I scrambled from the bed. Sickened by the sight and stunned with horror, I staggered from the room in search of help. My calls went unanswered, fading back into the silence of the dark and soon I pounded on the door of my host’s room.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the swirling chaos of my mind, I felt great anger rise. I hammered the door open and stormed into the room. The light was even less inside and the switch gave no relief. But I could make out the heap of a body beneath the blankets. It did not stir. As I drew closer, my foot struck an object, which clattered, across the floor leaving black smudges.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here, I can vaguely recall leaning in slowly and noting the same blackness splattered out from the pillow. I traced the sinister streaks to a pool of blackness, to the battered and crushed nightmare driven deeply down into the pillow.<\/span><\/p>\n

The next thing I recall is moving down the hallway in pursuit of my host, my friend. I now knew him as a killer.<\/span><\/p>\n

The body in his bed was dear Danielle, his wife. Surely it may be understood that I was mad with grief and my heart cried out for vengeance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Room by room, I searched for him until the only possible refuge was before me. I thought I understood why he would hide there, with the hideous statue that had driven him to madness.<\/span><\/p>\n

A strange silence had overtaken me and the gentle squeal of the hinges rose as the door turned away. At once, I saw him, as he must have meant me to see. He rocked slightly side to side, paying me no mind. For his bulging eyes were as sightless as my own Maryanne’s. With a thick, rough rope, he had done himself in and dangled from the rafters.<\/span><\/p>\n

History had repeated itself. Once again the house was the scene of murder and suicide. I stood alone, the only living soul, wondering how it was that I survived. And turning with furious contempt, I meant to destroy the monstrous statue. But, to my dismay, I discovered that it had vanished.<\/span><\/p>\n

My mind fought stubbornly to deny the assembly of wretched fragments, of the heavy plodding steps, of the brutal murders, of the missing statue… I backed away, fighting every irrational instinct that begged me to flee. When at last my courage failed, a sight that came as I turned halted me.<\/span><\/p>\n

I saw the damnable thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

It stood gazing at me, its cruel features lit with a maniacal glee. But this hellish visage was none that could ever know my rage, for it stared from a mirror, from where my reflection should have been. And then it laughed, an utterly inhuman croaking cackle, and it vanished. I saw myself, now soaked with bloody spatter and felt the rope burns in my hands.<\/span><\/p>\n

I, a skeptic, know full well that my story will be dismissed, that I shall be called a liar if not a madman. Justice will not be done until someone held accountable, and who else would that be if not myself?<\/span><\/p>\n

That I fled in terror will be taken as an admission of guilt, ere I have unwittingly confessed. But I beg you, if not for my sake, then for the sake of my dearest and most beloved friends, do not be content to know that I have taken my own life. For the killer, a daemon of cold, unfeeling stone will not die with me.<\/span><\/p>\n

-end-<\/span><\/p>\n

back to previous episode<\/a><\/p>\n

forward to next episode<\/a><\/p>\n

back to list of stories<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

part three of three by Joe Stanley BRIEFLY, I SLEPT, DRIFTING BACK INTO THE darkness from some horrid and half-remembered dream. Drenched in sweat, my breaths heaved as my heart pounded in my ears. As I regained my composure, other sounds reached me. The gentle padding of rain soothed me just enough to catch what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[113],"tags":[165,8],"class_list":["post-757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-joe-stanley","tag-gargoyle","tag-joe-stanley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=757"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2827,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757\/revisions\/2827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonathanharker.co.uk\/theghostlyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}