Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

w ould fr eeze to death if they could not r un the heater in the car. Someone w ould dr ive by
tomor r ow ? a happy family on Chr istmas mor ning on the way to visit gr andpar ents full of
cheer and mer r iment? and find them fr ozen and stiff and dead.
They got back out of the car and pushed again w ith the augmented effor t bor n of panic. It
w ould not budge an inch, even w ith Simon pushing and Beth at the w heel, touching lightly
on the acceler ator in r ever se, then in fir st, then second, and then r ever se again. She tur ned
the engine off to save the petr ol and got back out and stood, dejected, in fr ont of Simon. She
was dr enched and so cold she could no longer feel her hands or her head. She thought of
the happy family and their faces tomor r ow w hen they opened the car door s and found
them? like that. She wanted to cr y. Then she saw Simon pointing to something over her
shoulder.
?I don?t believe it,? he said. ?A light!?
She spun ar ound and ther e it was, the pale amber of tungsten, bur ning like a lodestar in
the distance. They locked the car and star ted to walk towar ds its war m, homely glow , so
conspicuous now against the monochr ome scene that engulfed it.
?It?s all r ight now , Beth,? Simon said, putting an ar m ar ound her to stop her sliding and
falling in the thick car pet of snow beneath their feet. ?No one?s going to tur n us away on a
night like this.?
Beth could feel the war mth of his body. She should have felt a wave of r elief. But she
didn?t.
They tr udged fur ther up along the tr ee-less, moor land r oad and saw that ?the light? was
actually sever al that r adiated fr om half a dozen lancet w indow s. As they got closer , the full
statur e of the place r evealed itself to them thr ough the w hite cur tain that fell heavy and
thick fr om a gr anite sky above. The building?s slate gr ey bulk was ador ned w ith the
char acter istic featur es of the Scots-bar onial: conical cor ner tur r ets, small, over -hanging,
wall-mounted tow er s that pier ced the sky w ith their cylindr ical points, and decor ative,
cr ow -stepped r ooflines and gables. It stood alone in gr ey-stone splendour like a gothic
fair y-tale castle; alone in this ghastly, ungodly night.
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