Clowders
by
Vanessa Morgan
Genre:
Horror, Suspense
Clervaux,
Luxembourg. This secluded, picturesque town in the middle of Europe
is home to more cats than people. For years, tourists have flocked to
this place – also known as “cat haven” - to meet the cats and
buy cat-related souvenirs.
When
Aidan, Jess and their five-year-old daughter, Eleonore, move from
America to Clervaux, it seems as if they've arrived in paradise. It
soon becomes evident, though, that the inhabitants' adoration of
their cats is unhealthy. According to a local legend, each time a cat
dies, nine human lives are taken as a punishment. To tourists, these
tales are supernatural folklore, created to frighten children on cold
winter nights. But for the inhabitants of Clervaux, the danger is
horrifyingly real.
Initially,
Aidan and Jess regard this as local superstition, but when Jess runs
over a cat after a night on the town, people start dying, one by one,
and each time it happens, a clowder of cats can be seen roaming the
premises.
Are
they falling victim to the collective paranoia infecting the entire
town? Or is something unspeakably evil waiting for them?
Their
move to Europe may just have been the worst decision they ever made.
“Who
is she?” Eleonore asked when Jess drove her to school Friday morning.
“Who's who?” Jess countered, not sure what her
daughter was talking about.
“The
girl. The one who's always watching us.”
“No
one's watching us,” Jess said.
“Yes,
there is. All the girls in my baking class say the same.”
Normally,
Jess wouldn't have put much thought into such a remark - children can say weird
things sometimes. But now it seemed Eleonore might be right. Jess felt like
there was indeed someone watching them, no matter what they were doing.
She
felt it everywhere she went. When she took Eleonore to baking class, when she
was lying in bed at night, even in the shops. But not all the time.
Some
of the time.
More
often than not, everything seemed normal, and then all of a sudden, she felt as
if someone was checking up on her. Sometimes it was only briefly, like a minute
or so, but at other times, she could feel it for several hours.
Sometimes
she could feel it on the streets.
But
mostly at home.
And
never outside Clervaux.
You're imagining things, she told herself.
In
fact, every day since she'd arrived in Europe, it had gotten worse. More and
more, she'd get that tingly feeling, and know that someone behind her was
watching her. She'd try to ignore it, tried to resist the urge to look over her
shoulder, but eventually the hair on the back of her neck would stand up, and
the tingling would turn into a chill, and finally, she'd turn around.
And
nobody would be there.
Nobody,
except for the cats. The sight of cats waddling along the pavement had never
seemed eerie to her, but the fact that they were always there, no matter where
she was - on the sidewalk, at the main square, in a café, in the forest – made
her skin crawl.
Whenever
she was running errands in Clervaux, she kept looking into store windows, but
it wasn't the merchandise she was looking at; it was the reflection in the
glass.
The
reflection of something sinister watching her.
Sometimes
she could have sworn she saw something. The reflection of a small, squatting figure.
But then she glanced over her shoulder and all she could see once more were the
cats of Clervaux staring back at her.
She
decided to not let her imagination get to her, to resist the urge to glance
over her shoulder every few seconds.
And
then her daughter muttered the words, “Who is she? The girl. The one who's
always watching us,” and the paranoia tightened its grip on her once more.
Vanessa
Morgan is known as the “female version of Stephen King.” Three of
her works (The
Strangers Outside, Next to Her,
A Good Man)
have become movies. When she's
not working on her latest book, you can find her watching horror
movies, digging through flea markets, or photographing felines for
her blog Traveling
Cats
(http://travelling-cats.blogspot.com).
Follow
the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
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