Free Darkest Part of the Woods by Ramsey Campbell Page B

Heather?"

    "Only what happened since anyone kept records," Lennox said. "Still, there'll be something before the manifestation that brought us here."

    "Manifestation," Heather said as a query or a challenge.

    "That's okay, Heather We don't expect you to understand all at once."

    She wasn't going to ask who else he thought he was speaking for besides himself.

    "Only don't give it too much time," he said. "We don't want you having to absorb it all in one go."

    She didn't know she was about to blurt "Like you did, you mean."

    "I haven't yet. There are changes on the horizon."

    The only visible horizon was formed by treetops, but that wasn't why she made herself say "Tell us about them."

    "In here," he said, tapping his forehead as if ascribing madness to someone else, "and out there, if there's any difference."

    "I think there is, don't you, Sylvie?"

    "Not once the woods get in," their father said. "Do you honestly suppose you could touch them and nothing would come of it?"

    He had to mean the felling that had made way for the bypass She was wondering whether to argue with him, and hoping that Sylvia would, when he stretched an arm in her direction before bending it towards the window as though to include her in an embrace "Look out there," he said "Tell us what you see."
    "Trees."

    She did: sunlit rows of them dripping like an army of the drowned, and more blurred ranks behind them-trees of the kind Sam had fallen from. For an instant the grey formless depths of the woods appeared to quiver as though considering what shape to adopt "That's all,"
    she said She wouldn't have been surprised to hear disappointment in his voice, but it was quite neutral as he said only "Sylvia."

    Sylvia leaned towards the gap under the sash. The smell of leaves acrawl with fog surged into the room, and Heather glimpsed a secretive movement the width of the forest She couldn't help holding her breath until Sylvia spoke. "I don't know yet."

    "That's the way. You will," Lennox said, and pushed himself to his feet by dragging the sash down. "I think that's enough for one day. I'll walk out with you," he said, and smiled rather wistfully at the doubts Heather was unable to conceal. "Only to your car."

    Dr Lowe met them at the foot of the stairs. "How was the visit?"

    "I think we've made a good start," Lennox said.

    "I'd say so," said Sylvia, and Heather felt bound to produce a murmur of agreement.

    "And where are we bound now?" the doctor said with heavy casualness.

    "Me, back where I was." Lennox stood away from the car as the sisters climbed in.

    "Come again soon," he told them, "for a check on progress."

    He paced the car as it coasted along the drive, then made for his chair. Heather glanced towards him as she reached the gateway, and almost neglected to brake.

    As she regained control before the vehicle could lurch onto the bypass, the woods seemed to gather their dank depths and inch towards her. She forced herself to concentrate on the headlong traffic, and almost managed to put her last sight of the hospital grounds out of her mind. Lennox and the others were sitting in a circle, just as they'd stood in the centre of the forest. The memory seemed no more real than an old dream, and she could neither grasp it nor rid herself of it. She couldn't be sure, nor could she deny, that the circle of seats on the lawn was exactly the size of the ring of bricks deep in the woods.

    10

    A View of the Future

    A peal of bells roused Sam. Though the church was behind him in Goodmanswood, the wind that the trees across the common were exerting themselves to snatch made the bells sound as though they were deep in the forest, misshapen too and clogged with moss. He knew he was hearing a tape so worn it had ceased to bear much resemblance to bells, but he was disconcerted to realise he didn't know how long he had been seated at his desk.

    He ought to be on the move soon. A glance at his fat black wristwatch showed him that his father was