Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

T he W ind on the Water
by D avid Pattie
The germ of this story came from the memory of driving into Uig on Skye,
on a clear evening with the Outer Hebrides visible on the horizon.
1.
Hey: d?you want to hear a stor y?
You see how the beach cur ves her e, how the bay seems to ar ch away to the
headland? You see the waves r olling gently along the beach? Looks calm, this
evening; the sun thr ough the low haze, the line of light on the water. So clear , isn?t
it? That?s the line of the Hebr ides, along the hor izon - the low r idge of the Uists, the
Har r is hills to the nor th, and then the empty water , all the way to the ice at the pole.
I love these evenings too. Feels like ther e?s nothing betw een you and the isles,
feels like you?r e str etching away your self, all the way to the hor izon.
Come her e; sit beside me. I?ve got a stor y to tell you. And w hile I?m talking, w ill
you do something for me? Will you look out acr oss the water , and watch the waves
and the islands? Because the stor y?s ther e, if it?s anyw her e; it?s out ther e, in the
endless, changeless sea.
2.
So, ther e was once a man.
Which is the way w e star t these stor ies, isn?t it? Conjur e a man out of the air like
that. I say the w or ds and you can pictur e him; you might not see the same man I
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