Monster Belt - Chapter 20

Monster Belt - Chapter 20 ....Cheeks glowing pink with the breath of dreams, Jess snuggled deeper into her thick sleeping bag and turning her head, hair rustling against cotton, stared into Harris' inert face. he breathed unconsciously loud, like a child with no worries. Any moment, he could open his eyes and then they would gaze directly at each other and that child would be gone and he'd feel the stinging cuts and tender bruises of his fall. But at that moment, he appeared peaceful. Veins stood out on his closed eyelids making them ethereal membranes. His face, flushed with sleep, made his tan more perfect and her fingers twitched to touch his unblemished skin. If only she could soothe away pain, maybe then they'd both be ready to let someone in, someone who looked to the future, not the past.

Monster Belt - Chapter 19

Monster Belt - Chapter 19 ......'How are you getting on with my book?' Harris asked between mouthfuls. Jess, fork poised, didn't immediately answer. She carried it now permanently in her bag, thinking she'd pick it up again and read a bit further, but never did. 'Fine,' she prised a chunk of lamb into her mouth. A group of cyclists, in their sleek fluorescent and black, sped across the square and a rust splattered Orangina sign spun on its access. Faded plastic strips in a doorway flapped then hung still. White dust flurried under silent trees. They ate with little conversation after that, until Harris stretched his legs, leaving Jess to drink coffee as he strode across the square to where the Volvo stood, bonnet raised and boiler suited mechanic peering inside. She pulled 'In the Eye of the Beholder' from her bag, placed it on the table and sipped her coffee again. The old women watched, black eyes vigilant and she flicked over the pages. Harris' meanderings no long puzzled her. If it had been anyone else, she'd have assumed they weren't serious about finding out what had killed Jonty; as it was, she recognised his fear and inability to face it.'

Monster Belt - Chapter 18

Monster Belt - Chapter 18 .....'Come on, swimming first,' he dragged her, splashing, into the water, 'you can put me through my climbing paces later.' 'Are you nuts?' she pulled her hand away. 'It's best at night,' he glanced over his shoulder at her, 'no-one about, so no distractions.' 'I can enjoy the water perfectly well in daytime, thank you, better in fact because I'm not worried about what I can't see swimming about out there,' she held back. She knew she made sense. Darkness hanging over and below held all sorts of shapes and movement that she didn't want to encounter. 'It's too cold,' she stepped backwards, 'Let's go, we can set off early tomorrow if we go to bed now.' That sounded pathetic. It never worked speaking when caught off guard and there he stood, his back to her, refusing to budge. She'd never been in the sea at night before. She'd paddled in the shallows, walking barefoot along a shoreline with lights of a promenade shimmering like jewels, but never been lifted off her feet,drifting into free fall. It somehow felt enticing, floating in darkness, stars sparkling down,where she'd find she belonged to something bigger, the way she did lying on moorland grass listening to grasshoppers and starlings on a summer's day. Here, stretched under the sky, fear might similarly dissipate.

Monster Belt - Chapter 17

Monster Belt - Chapter 17 ......'Not a laugh a minute,' she thought as she followed the waiter to their table. She'd written the story when she was fourteen or fifteen. He'd been twelve when he'd begun his. She hoped his had a happy ending; she didn't want to think about how hers would end. Was it any wonder she wrote of death knowing as she did, cold brittle moorland grass and wet, bone-chilling winter afternoons? A large grey barn of a place could be turned into a prison with a life sentence. What did he know about that or about a teenager stuck in time becoming a dead body buried in ice? No wonder she kept her stories hidden in a box. Remember the mountain top, she reminded herself, remember the purity of those clouds and make sure you shut the fuck up in future.

Monster Belt Chapter 16

Monster Belt - Chapter 16 .....It was the same overpowering feeling of being alive that she had felt on reaching the top of Bi

dean Nam Bian, or straddling Aonach Eagach Ridge. It was that pure,clean achievement of looking across an unstained world and all the danger of those times and places came flooding back.

Monster Belt - Chapter 15 ........'What's a Kraken?' jess controlled her voice from shooting off the Richter scale. 'I wasn't positive they existed. As I told you, you've got to see for yourself, but...' 'I thought it was a giant octopus,' she interrupted. 'No...' 'It had tentacles and looked...' 'Definitely a Kraken,' he stressed, 'Krakens usually live at the bottom of the sea, so when you're out in your boat, all you might think is that you're passing through shallower waters. They very rarely come to the surface but if they do, they can stay there for months, maybe years. That's why moss and lichen grows over them, sometimes small bushes.' 'Harris, that was so dangerous. We could have drowned.' She didn't need a crypto zoologist lesson when he needed a crack over the head. He turned the wheel. 'It was irresponsible,' she muttered. 'Shut the door, would you?' She yanked it closed. 'I'm sorry,' he didn't look in her direction, 'but you know when you start to lose faith?' She grabbed hold of the counter. She wanted much more than a flippant apology without even the courtesy of his attention. And he wasn't supposed to have faith never mind lost it, he was a scientist. She was the one who had faith, putting her faith in this crazy trip.