Laurence James - The Road

[allthingshorror]

NEL (November 1983)




The girl, half-naked, eyes demurely downcast, barely flinched as the knife blade pressed caressingly into the soft skin of her right breast.

Around her the chanting had died away and the ritual, rhythmic circling was stilled. A bead of blood...and another, another, sudden and bright in the candlelight, trembled, then trickled down the smooth flesh, splashing silently into the copper bowl.

Then came the incantations. Then the caged wren, bird of prophecy, was released to fly into the early sun.

Later, alone at the wheel of his car, a man cried out in panic as the windscreen exploded back into his face. Behind him, fluttering and broken by the impact, a bird lay on the road.

This was the first death.

[franklinmarsh]

A real departure for LJ, in that it's quite subtle compared to his usual in yer face style. Hints of The Wicker Man, but with a few references to other, more familiar stuff.