Keening Country

by Seán O'Connor

  This raised questions about their father. Was the shed simply a place for housing tools, lawnmowers and the usual crap DYI-type dads liked to fill them with? Or was the secrecy justified? If there wasn’t a giant man-eating spider in there, what was?

  Hugh would often disappear into the shed after the kids went to bed, sometimes Daniel would lay awake wondering what was going on and as he got older, his curiosity grew. It was a pattern that was always there, as far as he was concerned, so he never felt a need to question it. Over time, he picked up on his father’s secretive stance on the matter and some questions needed answering.

  The McGovern children decided that the time had come to break down the psychological barrier that always kept them away. The blood dripping from the bag was confirmation that something was not right.

  Daniel thought to himself, normal dads don’t do that. They work, come home, have a beer and watch football on TV… Don’t they?

  “You know what? We’re going to find out once and for all, what goes on inside that shed,” Daniel announced. “This has been going on for too long.”

  “What about Ollie?” Jess asked.

  “Jess, come on. You’re twelve years old. There is no man-eating spider in our shed.”

  “You’ve never been in the shed. So, why the secret?” Jess questioned.

  “Probably the same reason Mam is an alcoholic,” Daniel replied with the assurance of an adult, and an all-knowing smirk.

  “Poor Mom,” Jess concluded.

  “Explains all their fighting and her drinking doesn’t it?” Daniel said. “In the morning, we’ll pretend to go to school as normal, but after they leave for work, we’ll find out once and for all. Fuck the rules! You with me?”

  Jess hesitated, but agreed.

  The kids left for school as usual, but took a detour into a laneway at the end of their street. They watched the house like hawks, waiting for both parents to leave. And when they did, they went back inside, searching for Hugh’s spare set of keys.

  It took all morning, but eventually, the keys were found in Hugh’s bedside locker, hidden beneath a pile of old paperwork.

  They had what they needed – time to investigate.

  At the shed door, Daniel wrestled with the lock. The key struggled to turn, as the lock was stiff from being exposed to too many winters.

  When it eventually popped open, a sudden rush of fear ran over them.

  What lurked beyond the door? Was there a giant man-eating spider was lying in wait, with its big red eyes and long skeletal limbs ready to pounce on the kids as soon as they entered? At least that was what they had been told all of their life if they entered, and now finally, the moment had arrived for them both to charge in and face their childhood fear.

  The door slammed shut behind them – leaving only a faint hint of sunlight creeping through the cracks. It was hard to see. Daniel ran his hand along the brick wall, finding the light switch. “You ready?” he called out in the dark to his sister.

  “Yes, Dan. Turn it on now, please.”

  The bulb above where they stood came on with a harsh brightness that caused them both to squint. Startled, they rubbed their eyes as they struggled to focus.

  Their blurred vision quickly cleared, and they could see everything around them.

  The first thing that they noticed was obvious… There was no giant man-eating spider with big red eyes about to lunge forward and kill them. In fact, the roof, the walls and the whole shed were spotless – no signs of arachnid life at all – the bricks painted a pale grey. In one corner a yard brush and rake sat neatly. On the other side of the room stood a large bookcase with hundreds of plastic binders – all neatly labelled.

  “What the fuck?” Daniel gasped.

  He ran his finger along the spines, inspecting the titles. They looked like handwritten medical journals and other binders seemed to follow a common theme of surgery and diseases, all of which dated back at least fifteen to sixteen years.

  The roof was insulated and when inside, you’d never tell there was a steel corrugated roof on top of it. A large black rubber mat sat in the centre of the floor.

  “There is nothing in here?” Jess asked, her eyes wide with wonder.

  “There has to be, are you telling me Dad is some sort of backyard doctor?” Daniel said condescendingly. “There’s more to this place…”

  “There’s nothing but books in here, Daniel. Perhaps it is just his study area? You know, like the library in school,” Jess replied.

  Daniel felt a worrying unease creep though his body. He thought that they had overstepped their boundaries. First skipping school and then trespassing in the one place they were warned not to ever dare go. “Fuck this, come on, let’s get out of here, I don’t want Dad to catch me in here—”

  As soon as Daniel said the words, he felt a thump against the soles of this feet.

  Then another one.

  Thump!

  Jess felt it too. They looked at each other, didn’t speak, but their eyes told each other everything they needed to know.

  “Move!” Daniel ordered, while pushing Jess back against the bookcase. He reached down and grabbed a corner of the rug. He jerked it back, revealing a small steel hatch. Both sets of eyes grew wide with amazement at what they’d just discovered. It was circular in shape and had a large bolt holding it closed. It looked like something from an old war film. A bomb shelter? Access to the sewers? Whatever it was, it was a secret that Hugh didn’t want anyone to know about. That much, they were sure of.

  “What the fuck is this?” Daniel gasped.

  Before his sister could reply, another loud thud came from beneath it. There was something moving down there – and judging by the sound, it was large.

  Jess’s thoughts shifted to the childhood warning, imagining a massive spider waiting for the latch to open so that it might jump out and catch its prey like something from The Hobbit.

  Daniel bent down and grabbed the bolt.

  “What are you doing?” Jess screamed.

  “We have to check it out. Don’t we?”

  Jess froze with fear. A childhood phobia was about to be confronted and she wasn’t sure if she was prepared for it.

  “It’s alright, Jess. We’ve passed the point of no return. It’s probably more of his geeky journals,” Daniel said, trying to reassure her.

  “Journals and books don’t hit things, Dan,” she snapped, her voice filled with fear.

  “Relax. I’m going to check it out. I have to know.”

  Jess braced herself as the bolt opened with a loud click.

  Daniel lifted the hatch door and was instantly hit with a strange smell that wafted up into the air. It looked like the entrance to a sewer, a rusty steel ladder led the way down into what appeared to be a chamber. It was dark down there, but there was a faint light glowing, and unlike a sewer, it was bone dry.

  Daniel positioned himself on top of the ladder and gave Jess a reassuring look that beckoned her to follow him down.

  At the bottom, they were both surprised to find the chamber well insulated, in fact it resembled a small trendy apartment more than anything. The floor was carpeted and the walls were covered in wallpaper that had a vintage feel to it. The air was warm and as they stepped out into the middle of the dwelling, the size of the space surprised them.

  Why did Hugh keep this place a secret?

  Multiple thoughts flowed through their minds as they moved about, taking it all in. But at the end of the room, something caught Daniel’s eye that immediately raised an alarm – a bed, but not a normal bed. He could not help but think it looked like something straight from a mental hospital. Silver steel frame upon black rubber wheels and restraints for a person’s limbs. Beyond the bed stood another bookcase full of journals and what appeared to be Tupperware boxes. On close inspection they seemed to be full of some sort of medical equipment.

  “That’s a weird bed,” Jess remarked.

 
Daniel didn’t reply, instead he ran his hand over the mattress. It was warm to touch. Had someone been sleeping here today? In the corner of the room, there was a section tiled off, creating a small walk-in shower. And that’s when he noticed a shower head, still dripping, and beads of condensation slowly evaporating from the ends of the shower curtain.

  From the other side of the room, a strange groan echoed, sending a chill up the siblings’ spines. They were not alone in the room and whatever it was behind them, it was hiding in the shadows looking straight at them.

  “Who are you?” Jess asked, slowly turning to try and make out who or what the figure was, but all she could see was a silhouette standing there, silent.

  The shadowy figure caused them both to freeze and they could do nothing else but watch as it slowly swayed from side to side, with the odd nervous twitch thrown in.

  “Who are you?” The shadow spoke with a voice that eerily sounded like Daniel’s.

  “I asked you first,” Jess replied.

  “No, I asked you first,” it responded, leaning forward slowly.

  Daniel suddenly felt he wasn’t afraid anymore. He took a step forward towards the shadow and held out his hand in a friendly gesture. “I’m Daniel.”

  The figure’s hand emerged from the shadow revealing a dark green skin colour and finger nails that had been chewed to a bloody stub. The sight caused Jess to recoil with disgust, but Daniel offered his hand in friendship anyway.

  The shadow clamped its hand down hard on Daniel’s, squeezing tightly and then its face emerged from the shadow. “I’m Daniel!” it said, almost mocking the tone in Daniel’s voice.

  The brief sight of the shadow’s face caused Daniel to gasp loudly, but before he fully registered what he was seeing, the shadow pulled him towards it and then kicked Daniel hard in the chest, sending him sprawling across the room – it then stood out, revealing its full body. Skin, green, sick-like, and it spat at Daniel.

  “The Monster!” screamed Jess, but before she could register anything, it had darted to the other side of the room, rapidly ascending the ladder.

  Jess ran to Daniel, who lay on the floor struggling to catch his breath and in a state of shock. “What was that, Dan?”

  Daniel struggled to find the words, but eventually blurted out, “I don’t know…”

  The pair gathered themselves and made their way over the ladder. Looking up to the hatch door, they could see the sunlight illuminating the inside of the shed. Daniel mumbled away to himself and Jess tried her hardest to decipher what he was saying, eventually giving up.

  When they emerged from the shed, Hugh stood with a menacing pose. His eyes locked on them. “What were you doing in my shed?” he screamed at them.

  Jess tried to defuse his anger using her Daddy’s Girl sweet talk angle, “I’m sorry Daddy, we heard noises and—”

  “Aren’t you in enough trouble already, Daniel?” Hugh shouted, ignoring his daughter’s attempt to distract him – his aggression turning towards his son.

  “We are very disappointed in you,” said Ruth, who appeared from behind her husband, sullen and weak-looking.

  Both parents entered the shed and saw that the hatch was open. They glanced at each other and mouthed the words, Oh fuck.

  With haste, they turned and ran back to the house – dragging the kids with them.

  In the kitchen, both Daniel and Jess stood in bewilderment at the flurry of motion that rebounded around the room. Hugh locked all the windows, doors and shouted orders at Ruth along the way. The room fell silent when he returned and for the first time, Daniel saw a genuine fear in his father’s eyes.

  Hugh looked at him, his shoulders hung low, almost defeated. “It’s the day we’ve dreaded for years, son. All thanks to you.”

  “It’s the result of Seiðr...” Hugh announced to his family as they all gathered around the dining room table. No one said a word as they all stared blankly at him. He arranged himself at the head of the table, prepping them for the task on hand – the whirlwind of information overwhelming the children. It was as if all of this was rehearsed. Maybe, Hugh was right and it was the day that they all had dreaded?

  “Who was that in the basement?” Daniel asked.

  “And what is Seiðr?” Jess asked with innocent curiosity.

  Hugh took a moment, thinking to himself, the kids are not stupid and it’s time to tell them. Surely, now is the time?

  He looked to Ruth for approval, but she could barely muster up a smile from her weary face.

  “I’m sorry, son,” Hugh began, “your mother and I have not been entirely truthful to you. Or your sister.”

  “What is it, Dad? We have a right to know what’s going on,” Daniel asked with a hint of fear hidden deep within his tone.

  “Seiðr is an artform I applied to my work.”

  “What?” Jess asked again.

  “It was supposed to be about, err, life. But my work and research has meandered over the last few years. Never in a million years did I expect things to unfold the way that they have...” he said, before trailing off into mumbling.

  With a nod and a deep breath, Hugh finally committed to the situation and disclosed everything. Once the initial words came out, everything else flowed with ease. At the core of the project lay a cold hard truth. A family secret that had lain buried in the back garden since the day Daniel was born.

  “Danny, you have a twin brother.”

  The news rebounded within Daniel’s head like a pinball jacked up on amphetamines. He looked at every face around the table and hoped that this was all some sort of elaborate joke. A wisecrack to get him back for the trouble he’d been getting into. But, as the silence continued, the realisation of the truth began to sink in. He did have a twin.

  “My brother?”

  “Yes, son. I’m sorry you had to find out this way,” Hugh answered.

  Daniel stood up, stumbling back from the table. “You guys are messing with me? Aren’t you? Please, tell me you’re messing with me?”

  “I’m afraid not, Daniel,” Hugh replied, rising slowly to look him in the eyes.

  Ruth ran to console her son, her arms wrapping around him in a loving embrace. But Daniel rejected her with a shrug, continuing to protest the news. Eventually, he succumbed to her hug.

  Jess ran to join them.

  “Go on, Hugh. Tell them everything,” Ruth demanded, her breath reeking from booze.

  With a deep sigh, Hugh reached for a bottle of brandy that sat up on the top shelf of a cabinet in the corner of the room. He didn’t bother with a glass, instead opting to swig a few large mouthfuls straight from the bottle before continuing. He then plucked up the courage to tell the kids about the day Daniel was born.

  He explained that Daniel was one of a pair of conjoined twins; the other, they’d named Oliver. But their birth was not a usual one. The doctors had to perform an emergency separation in order to save the life of one of the infants. Oliver died shortly afterward, leaving Ruth in a complete state of despair and overwhelming grief.

  Hugh remembered thinking, a parent should never have to bury their child.

  On the day of Oliver’s funeral, the heartbreak was almost too much for Ruth to take. It was pouring rain. The kind of rain that brought a chill with it. Despite this, she refused to leave the graveside, weeping uncontrollably as dirt filled in the hole. When Hugh eventually got her home, she was a shadow of her former self and part of her soul was in that grave with Oliver. So, wine became her only companion – this hurt Hugh more than anything. He tried everything to get her back on track. But none of the support services or therapy sessions could assist Ruth with her grief.

  In the end, Daniel and his baby sister went to live with their auntie for a while, so Hugh could focus his efforts on his wife. It was the most challenging time in the family’s history.

  One day, Hugh reached his breaking point. He took Ruth to the emergency department of a psychiatric hospital. Ruth d
idn’t put up much of a fight and just slept while they were waiting to be assessed. When the doctor eventually saw them, Hugh was ready to run out the door and leave her behind, but despite his desire to do just that, he held firm and comforted her during the assessment. The doctor asked all the usual questions and focused primarily on her depression and grief. It didn’t take long for a decision to be made and she was admitted later that evening.

  Hugh felt his world come to an end.

  The hospital was located in Portrane – a part of the county Hugh was not familiar with, but this didn’t stop him finding a local pub and proceed to drown his sorrows – and drown them, he did. But despite his drunken state, he met a man. A man who was willing to wrap his arm around him and counsel him over another pint of stout. Hugh didn’t remember much about what was said that night, but he did remember when the conversation about grief and loss turned into a discussion with intrigue and hope. And from there he became aware of Seiðr.

  Daniel and Jess looked at each other and then turned their attention to their mother, who sauntered over to the bottle of brandy and proceeded to drink from it. All the while, refusing to break a stare she had fixated on Hugh.

  “Seiðr?” Daniel asked in disbelief, “What the fuck is that?”

  “Watch your language!” Ruth barked as she plonked herself down at the table.

  “Yes, son. That’s what the man that night called it… it’s a dark art used since the Norsemen came to Fingal,” Hugh replied. “I didn’t believe him at first. Thought it was nothing more than the ramblings of a drunken man. But son, he was telling the truth!”

  “It’s true, Danny. It’s all true,” Ruth added, almost weeping.

  Daniel refused to believe that the monster in the shed was in fact, his brother. And not only a sibling he never knew about, but a reanimated one at that. It was too much information for him to process there and then. Before he could take in anymore, the room began to spin. Next, he hit the floor.