(NB. In the next part of this series, I will discuss how this lend into what became 'The Return of the Author' which I am working on at the moment but for fun, I thought I would include for you to read the original first few pages of the Promise (later Return of the Author) which I originally wrote in 1990. This does need state the version of the book at the moment is nothing like this atall and this is shared as a example which I will discuss more next time how my writing has changed over time)
The Promise (Original title of ‘The Return of the Author – 1990 manscript
Prologue
The sky was dark and moody. It seemed to fit the mood felt by all that at the graveyard. Funerals are meant to be full of people mourning for the person that was buried. No mourners were at this funeral. The Old Man that was buried here was that hated. The only people that were here for the Priest that was conducting the funeral, the tattered remains of the dead man’s rich family who were more interested in the dead man’s money than the dead man himself and lastly one very confused strange who wasn’t quite sure still why he had been summoned here.
I, Ross Barnes was that confused stranger. I didn’t understand why I had been summoned here. I had never heard of this man that was been buried until I got that letter through the post a couple of weeks asking me to come to the funeral. At first, I thought it was a practical joke being played on me but when I saw the airplane ticket that would take me to the funeral in America inside the envelope. I changed my mind because I could see the ticket was real.
Storm clouds remained in the sky as the funeral drew slowly to its conclusion. I know the Storm clouds weren’t going to die down once this funeral ended. Only when the funeral ended I knew then the trouble would really begin. Most, probably all of the dead man’s family were penny-pinching bastards who only wanted to get as much out of the old man as they could. That was easy to tell for when the old man was being lowered into the ground. I could see no tears or sadness being acted out by any of his family.
Rain started pouring down towards the end of the funeral, making me feel even more cold, wet, frozen and miserable. I turned around and pulled off my rack sack, trying to find the brolley that was tucked inside it. It was during this short time I remember seeing a strange dressed in a black cloak watching the funeral from a long, long distance away outside the graveyard. He sent a tremor of fear throughout my body from looking at him. I asked Jackson, the Chauffeur ‘Any idea whose’s that?’
‘Nope’ was his answer ‘Probably just some traveller’.
I nodded my head and made it look like I agreed.
Inside all my instincts were telling me the opposite.
They were telling me that this was no passing traveller.
He or she were here for a reasons it scared me to try and think of this reason.
The Promise (Original title of ‘The Return of the Author – 1990 manscript)
Chapter One
I watched from outside the graveyard as the corpse of Jessie Brennan was slowly lowed down into the ground. Out of respect for the him, I didn’t make any more in any closer to watch the Funeral. Throughout this world it was generally believed with a few expectactions, I man called the Author was dead. It had been believed I had been killed in a car accident 23 years before.
I didn’t die.
I faked it so I could leave Earth to live on Mars with a selected core of friends. I had no intention of changing al this. It would make things way, way too complex for my liking. So I stayed away in the distance and watched Jessie Brennan get buried, making sure nobody could see me or recgnoise me.
A awful lot had happened to Jessie Brennan since the last time I had seen him alive. Back then Jessie had been a beggaring, useless, drunken trump living on the streetsd. His only friend been the bottle. Now at the time of his death he had somehow become of the richest men in the world. Back then during the last time I saw him, Jessie had played a very very major part in my life. He had saved my life and made me want to live when it looked like I would die and would want to die. I owed Jessie my life and told him so.
I told him I was forever in his debt and asked was there I could do for him. Jessie was proud and stubborn. He asked for one thing.
Just one thing.
He asked for me to come to his funeral when he died. 25 years later. I heard of his death and I remembered the promise I made him all those years before. So I returned to visit him at his funeral.
The funeral was over very, very, very quickly and everybody had started drifting slowly away. I know I should have left too but I didn’t. I held back for a few more seconds. One person out of the very suspect crowd of mourners had stood still and held back when the rest went back to Brennan’s Mansion to listen to the reading of the will. I was 100% sure I knew that person that had had held bak and followed the rest. He looked a awful lot like one of my p;d friends back from many, many years before when I used to live on Earth, before I moved to Mars and then to Callisto. It took me a few minutes to work out who it was. My memory never was that excellent but eventually I worked out who it was. It was my old buddy Ross Barnes.
Ross and me used to be good buddies from a long, long time before. It had being about 23 years since the last time I had seen him. The last time being at my fake funeral. He hadn’t changed very much in all this time. Of course over time like I had he had grown a bit more waist-wide (then again don’t we all reach middle age), and now also spronted a 2 foot – curly black beard. I wanted to walk down and shout to him ‘Howdy Rossman’ just to study his reaction of his face. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t and also I wouldn’t. I stopped myself. If I went down there, it would bring up too many awkard questions of which I certainly had no want to answer in a hurry.
Night-time was creeping into the blue sky more and more by each second and minute. It was rapidly becoming increasingly harder and harder t see what Ross was doing standing still in the graveyard. He was obviously looking for something, that I could be sure off. Something was clearly bugging him. I couldn’t blame him. Something was wrong. There was something really evil and nasty about this place.
I did not like it atall.
He must have been reading my thoughts. For I heard him say ‘Sack this. I’ve had enough. Its getting late and I’m getting tired. If there’s anything wrong here. I can’t see it at the moment. If there is anything out there. It’ll have to hold until the morning. I’m not holding on. I’m going back to the mansion. I’ll be lucky if I won’t miss most of the will being read out’ So he left leaving me alone in the graveyard. I should have gone and starting heading back to my space shuttle ‘Hondo’.
However, I didn’t go.
I couldn’t go.
Something was really wrong.
Soon enough I wouldn’t want to start to wish I hadn’t stuck around.
A few hours slowly dragged on-wards and by the time nothing had happened. By this time I’d enough and was about to leave when it began. At first I thought I was imagining things but it dawned on me it wasn’t imaging things.
It was for real.
It was no dream.
There was no laughter coming from under the ground.
I should have gone and gone back to Hondo then and then but I couldn’t move a inch. I would have become even terror stricken if possible seen with what I was shortly about to see.
Moaning started coming from Jessie’s tomb.
It was horrible.
It was terrible.
It was frightening.
There was moaning in frightly believebale pain coming from undere the ground.
I was so scared when I heard this I had almost lost control of my bodily functions.
I felt my heart start racing backwards and forwards.
Up and down.
Sidewards left north, then south and east then a hand come from under from the ground then the other hand and a knee, then the other and a foot.
It was Jessie.
I wanted to run towards him, but my legs wouldn’t let me.
I couldn’t understand why but I noticed Jessie stood still for a while, standing motionlessly still. From the shadows eventually came two things. For a few seconds I thought they were human, then I saw two huge bat wings on either side of their back and pointed greyish bat-like features that covered both of their faces.
I didn’t like the look of this in the slightest.
Both of these creatures began to speak in a strange, deep, growling sort of language to each other. I knew straight away I had never heard this language spoke before and probably would never hear it again. One of them said something to Jessie and Jessie staggered over them.
Puzzlement creeeped into my mind as I watched Jessie stagger slowlty but surely towards the two creatures. I didn’t like the look of what was going on atall in the very slightest. I only wished I could understand what they were about to do to Jessie, then I learnt why.
Jessie stood still when he reached two or three metres away from the two creatures. One of the two half half human, half bat creatures produced from nowhere a Jam Jar which was empty and minus its head lid which was held in the creatures other hand. The creature that held the empty jam-jar snapped something suddenly at the other creature. This other creature nodded its head in agreement. It’s right hand flicked up which was suddenly full of claws and ripped Jessie’s body in half. Not horizinally but sidewards.
Millions of worms jumped of Jessie’s cut in half body onto the ground. I realised Jessie must have dead all along. All those worms must have crawled inside his body after he died and controlling his muscles brought up onto the ground. I saw the creature had been holding the Jam Jar grab something firmly inside the Jam Jar and slam it tightly shut whatever it grabbed certainly was a real scrapper. It was really trying to escape out of the Jam Jar. At one point it looked liked it could do at as well. The creature that held the Jam Jar snapped ‘Silence! And stop wriggling. Otherwise I will destroy you now the spot’.
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