Darkness Comes To Woodford Bridge Ch 01

Note: This series is my tribute and homage to all the movies that inspired me as a kid and which I love to this day. Films like Sam Raimi's

The Evil Dead

, Carpenter's classic chillers

Halloween

,

The Fog

and

The Thing

, Romero's

Dead

trilogy, Dario Argento's brace of Italian giallo masterpieces

Suspiria

and

Inferno

, Hammer films,

The Twilight Zone

and many more. My intention is to release a new chapter on the first Sunday of each month, with each preceeding chapter being left on a cliffhanger ending. Hopefully this will make it more exciting for the reader and also give me a deadline to work for, as I always perform better under pressure. Anyway, that's the deal and I'll do my best to keep my end of the bargain. Like much of my stuff this series is more based in plot than sex. Of course there are sexual situations (I've been around long enough to know the CSSA rules) but if you're looking for a quick fix then this is the wrong story to read. There are plenty of fine authors doing that stuff better than I ever could. But thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope you enjoy it - RW.

Part One - A Good Day

My life changed forever on a Tuesday afternoon in the middle of June. I'd never expected anything to happen and truthfully never thought that it would. I was just tripping along in my own little existence without too many problems and without a great deal of ambition. I was doing all right, and that was enough as far as I was concerned. But then without warning, two things happened. The first was that I met a girl. A beautiful sweet girl who turned my head and made my eyes water with lust and longing. There's nothing too unusual about that. It's the kind of event that happens every day to tens of thousands of people. However, the second thing was a little more unusual.

The world came to an end.

Let me start at the beginning, and maybe you'll be able to make some sense of the whole thing. It's a pretty amazing story, and I don't want to miss anything...

***************

It was yet another scorching hot day, just like it had been for the past few weeks. Constant heat and scorching glare from an unrelenting sun that just wasn't about to be obscured by clouds. The sky was a deep blue, almost ultramarine, and so clear that it seemed if you reached out you could touch it, send ripples running to the horizon. Plants were dying, trees were wilted, water was fading fast. The earth was crying out for some relief.

I was grateful that I'd had the good sense to complete what work I'd had early in the morning; sitting infront of a drawing board would have been miserable. I'd e-mailed my plans before Eleven and had been out under the shade of the willow tree that bowed it's branches at the top end of my garden ever since. It didn't take much for me to be lazy at the best of times but on a day like this it was justified. For the last few hours I'd been re-reading

Moby Dick

, but as the late-afternoon drew closer my eyes started to get heavy and I dropped Melville's tale of revenge and absolution down by the side of my lounger and let out a lazy yawn. I flicked a gnat away and glanced at my watch. Ten minutes after four. I leant back and closed my eyes, listened to the far-off sound of someone mowing a lawn.

When I awoke the shadows had lengthened around my backyard and the orange ball of sticky fire had dropped lower on the horizon. It was almost Five. I stretched like a cat and thought about getting something to eat. There was a mild stiffness in my back where I'd lay awkwardly, and I felt it as I swung my legs to the ground and reached for my book. I yawned again and stepped from the shade into the still hot sunlight, and the air felt heavy around me as I walked. There was a cold beer in the refrigerator with my name on it, and I could visualize the condensation dribbling down the edge of the bottle. And that was when I saw her.

I stopped immediately, my hand on the latch of the backdoor, and watched her move slowly around the well-maintained garden next to my own. On the far edge of the lawn were a collection of trees that put my own solitary willow to shame, with a collection of wildflowers growing beneath, and I watched as the girl ran her small hand carefully over the delicate petals and bent her head to breathe the scent of them here and there. A dazzling white summer dress worked it's way around her slender body, flaring out below the waist to reveal lightly tanned skin on her thighs and calves. I could see her bare feet sinking into the lawn as she walked. Her dark hair was long and fell loose across her shoulders, and she tucked a loose strand behind one ear as she continued to walk aimlessly and with her head lowered.

She must have sensed my staring, and she looked up quickly and directly at me. Although I must have been a good twenty feet away it was easy to see just how beautiful she was. Her eyes were deep and dark, set in flawless skin that was framed by ringlets of that auburn hair. She frowned at me for just a moment and then smiled, raised a hand in my direction. I offered a sheepish grin in return; I'd been busted watching her and I think she knew it. I was about to wave back and disappear indoors, but then she spoke and started walking towards the low fence that separated the two properties. I dropped my hand from the door and wandered over to meet her. Her hips swayed gently as she walked and the smile stayed on her full lips. A thin chain of silver lay on her throat, the sunlight glinting from it.

'Hi,' she said, in a voice that was a gorgeous as the rest of her. 'I'm Natalie.'

'I'm David,' I replied. 'Nice to meet you.'

'You too. I saw you earlier but you were-' she motioned to where my lounger rested in the shade.

Great. First impression had been of my lazy carcass asleep beneath the tree. 'Yeah,' I muttered. 'You know.'

'Tough day?'

I thought about lying and then thought better of it. 'Not really, if I'm honest.'

She laughed quietly. 'I respect that. I intend to spend plenty of time doing the same thing.'

I frowned. 'What, being honest?'

'Well, sure, but what I really meant was sleeping the afternoon away.'

'Just recently it's been to hot to do anything but,' I said, making an attempt to justify myself and then quickly steer the conversation away from my idleness. 'Have you just moved into the old Edgecome place?'

'I got here really late last night,' she replied, brushing a strand of hair back behind her ear in a gesture that I was already starting to find appealing, 'and I've spent most of the day in bed.' She smiled once again. 'See, sleeping just like you. I just took a shower and decided to have a little explore. I'm just renting the place for a couple of weeks while life is quiet and I don't have anything on. It's been pretty tough recently and I need to unwind.'

'You came to the right place then. There's not a great deal to do here except wait for the changing of the seasons.'

'That why you're here?'

'I moved here just over three years ago. It was meant to just be nothing more than a stop-off on the road to somewhere else. Then one day I discovered that I never wanted to leave.' I paused for a moment and thought. 'A lot of people say that about the Bridge. It gets under your skin.'

'Well it sounds just perfect for me then. All I want to do is lay around, listen to music, read a thousand books and not hear the sound of the city.'

'New York?'

'That obvious?'

'Your accent gives you away, that's all. Believe me, you may as well be on another planet here compared to that Metropolis, never mind over a thousand miles away.'

'That's the idea.'

Our eyes locked and although I couldn't swear to it, and let's face it with my track record I'm no expert, I was sure that something passed between us for a moment. Some kind of recognition from a situation we'd both been in. Even better, maybe some attraction. There certainly was from me. Natalie was already starting to intrigue me, and not just from her obvious beauty, and it had been a while since that had happened. And she was also strangely familiar to me as well; I felt as if I already knew her. One thing was for sure though, I didn't want this introduction to end, and I swallowed my nervousness before I spoke again.

'I was just thinking about fixing myself something to eat,' I said. 'If you're hungry you could join me?'

Her smile didn't fade and she didn't look away, but I thought I saw a flicker in her eyes, as if that was the kind of question she was trying to get away from on her two-week vacation. And a girl like her probably got that kind of offer all the time, and inevitably from better prospects than myself. 'It's kind of you to offer,' she replied, 'but I really should get all my stuff unpacked and get some windows open in the house and let the place air through.'

'Sure. I understand.'

'Perhaps some other time?'

I nodded and tried to keep the disappointment out of my voice. 'You bet. I'd like that. See you later.'

I turned away from the fence quickly and walked up the three steps that led to my back door, noticing that my pots of herbs were near death due to the unrelenting heat. The doorhandle was hot to the touch as I started to make my way inside.

'Hey, Dave?'

I looked around at where Natalie stood in the middle of the lawn, her skin glowing gold in the light, her hair a soft sheen.

'Too late to change my mind?'

'Course not.'

She grinned. 'Okay, give me just a few minutes to get freshened up, and I'll be with you. Need me to bring anything?'

'Only yourself.'

She gave me a little wave and walked quickly back towards the bleached brick and wooden porch that made up the rear of Jim and Martha Edgecome's well-preserved old house. The couple had been kind to me when I'd moved to Woodford; Jim helping me with various repairs to my property and his wife making me a series of delicious pies that had kept me alive in the early days. They'd taken early retirement and moved to a neat little beachfront place last Winter. I'd had a couple of cards from them, they were doing well. Their house had stood empty since then. Until today. I watched Natalie close the screen door behind her and disappear into the shadows, and then made my own way inside.

Despite the fact I had fans running and all the windows open the interior of my house was still stale and oppressive. The only air-conditioning unit I had was a cheap and nasty little box that I'd been keeping in the bedroom to make sleep that little more comfortable. When I opened the fridge door I was hit with a blast of chilled air that made me gasp, and for a moment I fantasized about just clearing out all the food, grabbing a beer and sitting inside it. For now the beer would have to do, and I popped the cap from what I hoped would turn into several and drank half of it down straight.

It wasn't like we'd never had a heatwave before, but never one that was quite so intense. The thermometer on the wall read thirty-one degrees, and it had been three weeks since the temperature had dropped below twenty-eight during the day. I'd spoken to my Father at the weekend and we'd reminisced about a summer during my childhood, the year of which neither of us could really recall, but had been what locals always called a scorcher. Back then it seemed as if the whole world was roasting alive, and I'd spent that summer in the garden shading behind a fallen tree and building intricate landscapes for my toy trucks in the parched earth, my Mother insisting that I wear a hat and apply yet more oil to my deeply browned arms. That had been as warm as I could remember, yet as I'd said to Dad, surely this year had surpassed all expectations.

I found a couple of decent tuna steaks and seasoned them with salt, black pepper and lemon juice and threw them under the grill, then grabbed greens, tomatoes and peppers and started to fix a salad. I had no idea what Natalie ate but fish and salad were always a pretty safe bet. Anyway, it was to hot to start messing with pans and the like. As I sliced the vegetables I thought about the how she'd walked towards her house. Easy and graceful, her hair tumbling down her back, beautiful. Two weeks of a girl like that living next door to me wasn't exactly an upsetting prospect. Maybe this summer would have some highlights after all.

I turned the heat down on the tuna and did a quick spin through the living room, straightening here and kicking things out of sight there, before running upstairs to the bathroom. Brushed my teeth and ran my fingers through my hair, making some shape out of the usual mess. After that kicked off my shorts in the bedroom and pulled on a pair of linen trousers that were loose and cool, and found a short-sleeved white shirt that was less creased than everything else. I allowed myself a glance in the mirror as I buttoned the shirt. My constant dedication to idle afternoons had ensured that my skin was bronzed from continual sessions of reading and sleeping in the back yard, and my commitment to healthy eating over the last few months had meant I'd lost the small gut I'd developed in the winter. I was looking okay. Better if Cassie's name wasn't still tattooed on my shoulder, but you couldn't have everything. I left my feet bare as before and made my way back to the kitchen.

I'd knocked together a quick dressing for the salad and was just lifting the steaks out onto a plate when there was a polite knock, and I wiped my hands and went to the door, noticing how my heart was beating just that little bit quicker. Natalie stood on the second step looking up at me. She hadn't changed but her hair was now tied back, strands of curls still framing her face. She held a bottle of wine in one hand and a pie in the other. I held the door open for her and she stepped inside. She was now wearing sandals and the heels clicked on the tiled floor of my kitchen.

'You didn't have to bring anything with you,' I said, taking the bottle and the pie and finding space for them in the fridge. 'Thankyou though, this smells delicious. Lemon?'

She nodded. 'I didn't make it myself, just bought a load of stuff at the store before I got here last night. What are we having?

'Nothing fancy. Just a salad, and I've grilled some tuna steaks. Got some good fresh bread, too.'

She looked apologetic. 'I'm really sorry, Dave, I should have told you before, but I'm vegetarian.'

'No, it's okay, I should have asked. Let me fix you something else,' I said, having absolutely no idea what else I would fix.

'The salad looks just fine,' she replied, 'and there's more than enough. Truth is I'm not all that hungry.' She tapped her finger against the half-empty bottle of beer that I'd left on the worktop. 'I'd love a drink, though.'

'Sure,' I said, opening the fridge door and once more savoring the cold air. 'You want a glass of this wine?'

'A beer is fine.'

'Cool.' I took two bottles out and popped the caps. 'Glass?' She shook her head no and I handed the cold Miller to her which she took with a smile. She raised the bottle toward me and we touched necks, the glass chiming dully in the quiet air of the kitchen. We drank, and I watched the rim touch her mouth, her throat working as she swallowed, her eyes close for a moment as she savored the beer, and the way she used the back of her hand to delicately wipe the moisture from her lips. I forced my attention back to the food.

'If you grab those plates,' I said, 'I'll bring the rest.'

Natalie took both of the beers and the cutlery and plates I'd laid out and headed out of the backdoor, and I juggled the food and followed her out into the yard. It was now approaching six and the sun had dropped sufficiently for the burn to ease off the day. A light breeze blew now and again, cool air welcome against the back of my neck. There was the far calling of geese and I looked up to see a formation of birds flying in a perfect V towards the horizon.

I had a small wooden table with two battered but comfortable chairs that I kept in the shade of the house, and it had been here that I'd eaten throughout the last few weeks, the radio on and sometimes a magazine for company. It felt good to have someone to share a meal with, no matter how quickly it had been thrown together. Natalie arranged the crockery and I spread out the food, what there was of it. I made sure to keep the tuna steaks on my side as we sat down and once again took simultaneous mouthfuls of the cold beer.

'Are you okay if I eat the fish?' I said, as Natalie piled a generous serving of salad on her plate and reached for a chunk of the bread. She looked up and grinned.

'Of course, don't waste it. I'm not offended, I just don't choose to eat meat, that's all. Haven't since I was a little kid.' She paused and took a mouthful of the salad before continuing. 'Thankyou for being considerate though. And this dressing is gorgeous, by the way. What's in it?'

'Little mustard, lemon juice, oil and vinegar, the usual really.'

'You cook a lot?'

I nodded. 'Yeah. I don't really have a choice. There's only me here, and I do enjoy it. Besides, you try getting a pizza delivered out this way. No chance.'

She speared a cherry tomato. 'I think the kitchen in my apartment was the last thing to be designed,' she said. 'There's just about room for a coffee machine and a toaster.'

'You don't really need to cook in New York, do you?'

'No. You've got the choice of just about anything twenty-four hours a day. This is really nice though, thanks for inviting me Dave. I didn't think I'd be having dinner with my new neighbour tonight.'

For the next few minutes we ate more than talked, but any gaps in the conversation didn't feel unnatural or awkward. The food was simple yet good, and we both cleaned our plates. Natalie insisted that I sat while she took the dishes indoors, and a moment later she returned with the lemon pie and two more bottles of beer. She cut us both generous slices of pie, cold and full of zest, and we ate and washed it down with the beer. Natalie used her napkin to wipe her mouth and then leant contentedly back into her chair with a sigh. She looked up at the sky that was deepening blue with the onset of the evening and then at me.

'That was good. I think I really needed that.'

'I thought you said you weren't that hungry?'

'I guess I was. I haven't had a thing all day, and my trip last night really took it out of me.'

'D'you mind if I put some music on?'

She shook her head and I reached down to where my ancient stereo sat on the slabs and hit play. I had a compilation tape in the deck and a moment later Jeff Buckley came on. I dialed the volume down to a low level and left it as background sounds. Natalie listened to the tune for a few seconds and once more looked at me with her soulful eyes.

'So, if it's not too personal a question,' she asked softly, 'what's a young guy like you doing living alone in house in a quiet place like this? I mean, what are you, twenty-six, twenty-seven? I thought you'd be searching out the bright lights.'

I smiled. 'I'm twenty-eight next month. And I've done all that. Like I told you before, this village got under my skin.'

'Well that I can understand.' She drank deeply and placed the empty bottle back on the table. 'But it surprises me you're on your own. You're a nice guy.'

'Thankyou,' I said, hoping that the one word answer would put an end to her questions. It wasn't that I didn't like talking about myself - I had no problem with it. It just always seemed to me that everyone else had something more exciting to say. But the way she was looking at me in the early evening haze suggested she was genuinely interested. I sighed.

'I was married, briefly. We were too young and it happened far too quickly.' I had a drink and looked away to the fields that bordered the rear of my garden, and the lines of trees thick with summer foliage. I could still feel Natalie's eyes on me and I started talking. It was strange how comfortable I felt with her. I told her how I'd met Cassandra when we were barely out of college, and how a quick romance had been based on lust more than love, yet we were too dumb to realize it. Our relationship had been short but the consequences long; a separation and then a messy divorce had cost time and money. It had nearly cost me my sanity as well, not least because living with the knowledge that you've been married and divorced before you've even reached twenty-five is a hard thing to accept. I'd started drinking but luckily stopped after a few months, before it had gotten serious. I'd also been prescribed anti-depressents, and although I still occasionally took one it was now an exception rather than the rule.