Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

So, you?r e waiting for the tur n of the stor y. OK. But keep watching, yeah? Out
ther e acr oss the water. You can see the wake line of the fer r y coming over fr om
Tar ber t. And ther e?s the ship itself, dar k blue and gr ey on the evening sea. It never
gets fully night, this time of year. Ther e?s always enough light to see by. So, watch,
and keep watching.
5.
JM star ted to dr ink mor e after his father died. His ma came back for the funer al;
she?d left year s back, and he couldn?t blame her. His da was a dr inker , using it to
put a scr een betw een his family and himself. JM?s ma?d found someone else on the
mainland ten, tw elve year s ago. After the funer al they w ent out to the edge of the
Minch, to clear their heads.
Sandy not w ith you, then? JM?d asked
No, she said. No r eason for him to come. They never met, and it?d just be putting
salt on the w ounds of the family her e. So best not.
Aye, he said. They stood for a moment in silence.
Don?t stay her e. He tur ned r ound: she was looking str aight at him. Don?t stay. He
did. And look w hat happened.
He was thr ow n, for a moment. What?
Your da?d get smashed, & come to bed mutter ing about the w ind, and about the
things he saw out on the water. Couldn?t get much sense out of him, but he?d say
ther e w er e faces ther e.
Faces?
She shr ugged. I know. Just faces. Couldn?t get any mor e out of him than that. I
thought it was the dr ink, and him being on his ow n so much. But he?d say faces
202