Yet the following night unsettling events happened to raise my concern over Mamie’s wanderings. I was woken from my slumber by what sounded like the loud cry of an animal. I bolted upright and looking around the room found Mamie to be gone. Again the cry came, its sound piercing the cool night air, causing me to move to the window in an attempt to gauge its whereabouts. At first I could see little, yet as I stood with my vision straining against the darkness, the moon (which had previously been obscured by clouds) broke free from its cover. The brief incandescent sliver allowed me to take in a good view of the surrounding hills.
For a moment I was unsure at to what I was seeing, or sure that light and shadow were playing tricks on my sight, but no; there above the peak of Sentinel Hill a vast silhouette was moving against the sky, its flank lined with uncountable appendages. I stood transfixed as the giant shape moved in a rhythmic motion to and from the ground as though in performance of some ritual. Then the piercing cry sounded again and the vision was gone, as quickly as it had appeared, swallowed by the arrival of the very clouds whose brief retreat had granted me sight.
I remained motionless, unable to believe what I had witnessed, yet the animal sound continued to rise in volume for some time before finally extinguishing itself. The silence brought me to my senses and a sudden fear gripped me. Mamie was alone in the night. I dare not entertain the thought that she had fallen prey to the thing I had seen upon the hill, and only hoped that wherever her nocturnal travel had taken her it was far from the beast I heard sounding in the dark. I ran downstairs, this time grabbing a lantern before leaving the house, and holding it aloft I began calling her name into the night. I do not know how long I searched but it seemed like more hours than a normal night contains. Surroundings I knew all too well by the light of day became alien to me as my feet sought hold amongst the shadows. Briars grabbed at my ankles, branches lined with thorns tugged at my clothes, tearing my face and hands, and all the while my heart thundered loudly in my chest for fear that I may actually encounter the thing I had glimpsed. It was as I finally reached the base of Sentinel Hill that I was finally given a respite from my worries for there, appearing out of the dark, moving towards me like a moth to a flame, was my Mamie. I ushered her home and though I questioned her on her whereabouts she remained silent as though under some kind of slumbering spell; the only recognition that she heard my words a smile upon her face which appeared in an almost mocking manner.
As I lay her upon the bed my eyes strayed in the candle light to her nightclothes and I felt a chill descend upon me. The white of her gown was stained here and there with darkened residue and once again her feet were soiled with mud from where she had traveled, but this was as nothing to the horror I felt when I removed her garment. Though I had before taken advantage of her nocturnal stillness as a welcome chance to find my own release against her soft flesh, this time as I raised the fabric from her sleeping body I came across a moist sticky substance that lay upon her skin. It pooled in the center of her stomach and smeared down the pale expanse of her thighs in thick globulous streams. She had fallen into a bog, perhaps, there in the darkness, or in her desire to find her way home had clambered unseeing through a pool of algae-covered rainwater.
Heaven knows what may have befallen her.
Unable to bear the thought of her sleeping through what remained of the night covered in that filth, I gently carried her downstairs. She slumbered upon the living room floor while I heated water, one pot at a time, to fill the bath. As I washed the filth from her body I gave thanks to God for returning her safely to me, adding a prayer for driving whatever it was I saw upon the hill from our midst; the terrible animal sound that chilled my soul did not sound again the remainder of the night.
I would like to tell you my story ends there, and that with the morning the worst of these unfortunate events were behind us. Yet this was but the start of greater horrors I would have to endure. The very next night, exhausted though I was from my wife’s recent nocturnal activities, I was stirred from my slumber by the strange sounding in the darkness. Again, I found Mamie missing. The search ended only when I found her at the foot of the hill, caked in the same manner as she was previously.
The ritual was repeated subsequent evenings. Sometimes I would sleep through and wake happily to find her next to me only to glance down and once again find her feet ruined with dirt. More often I awoke alone at night, disturbed from my restless sleep by that terrible sound. I tried locking the doors to the cottage… Mamie’s sleepwalking didn’t render her without cunning, it seemed, so when this didn’t end her wanderings, I set upon a plan of action: I would follow her.
I finished work early at the Corley’s farm that day, and knowing of the vigil to come, napped into the early evening. Then, sufficiently rested, I went to bed as normal only this time I feigned sleep. In the oncoming darkness I waited for Mamie to leave. For what seemed like hours, I carried on my charade, nearly succumbing to actual slumber as the moon sailed high into the night sky, but as I was on the cusp of finally surrendering I sensed the motion of my wife rising in a slow deliberate movement towards the door. I waited for only a few moments before donning my coat and boots and following her out into the darkness.
I took care to obscure myself by using the branches and wild brambles that lined her route as camouflage. I fell behind her at an increasing pace as I tried to mask my presence, flinching as a twig snapped loudly under my foot and ah! I held my breath in fear but as I realized that my wife noticed me not at all, I ignored any further hiding spots and ran after her in earnest.
We reached the hill nearly together and began to ascend to its peak, Mamie apparently unconcerned by its steep incline, her dainty frame moving on and increasing her pace as I alone struggled for breath against its steepness. As I neared its crest I lost sight of her, the undergrowth being at its thickest there. I once reached an impassable section of gnarled oaks and bushes and was forced to backtrack in search of easier access. As I groped my way around in the darkness I was suddenly stilled by that terrible cry, its sharp sound cutting through the night chilling my nerves, and I dare now to admit that for a moment I remained motionless. Was it not for the fear of Mamie’s safety I would have retreated in great haste.
I remained strong though the cries continued, and made my way to its source. In time the hill evened out and I found myself looking at a large, moonlit plateau. There on the ground before me was a strip of white I recognized from Mamie’s dressing gown. Grasping the retrieved fabric in one hand, I edged nearer, with those terrible cries gaining frequency as I approached.
As I brushed the last of the branches from my way I came upon a sight that caused me to shriek aloud in horror!
How do I describe the terrifying image before me? How do I put into words the spectacle without resorting to madness myself?
The mass of gray flesh that pulsated along its slug-like body, the myriad of snake-like tentacles (each as thick as oaks) that swarmed in frenzy from its head crowned above an array of beaked mouths that snapped and spitted. The thing was no creature that could be named. The closest resemblance being that of some giant disfigured Octopi… it moved as I had previously witnessed from my room and as I followed the monstrosity’s motions, I let out a cry at seeing what had become of Mamie.
There she lay under the head of the monster, her gown lying in a wrinkled mass around her neck, exposing her perfect breasts, upon which eel-like tongues licked. Her legs were spread wide by tentacle appendages that sprang from huge follicles at the creature’s sides. Still others erupted from those cloying beaks and traversed eagerly up her moistened thighs. The horror was all encompassing and though I had gone to the hilltop with the intent of protecting Mamie, I must have had some sort of blackout for the next thing I remembered was waking at home, the sun signaling morning, and my wife sleeping soundly at my side.