They Grow Upon The Eyes - Extra content
This was chapter one for about fourteen months until I changed the whole structure of the first part and swapped chapters around. After chopping and changing I found there wasn’t enough room for the death of Simon Aldridge and the chronology was not right if I kept it in. In the end I made Terri’s first chapter an amalgamation of the two chapters so some of it may seem familiar...
It grows upon 'The Eyes' spreading like a virus, preventing life, burning skin and quenching its thirst from others. It towers above the ground dominating the terrain, turning dirt into dust and infesting the very soil we walk on. Heracleum Mantegazzianum has bloomed.
The Eyes Nature Reserve. A site of special scientific interest. "Beyond this point it is illegal to hunt, shoot, fish, collect bait or remove any plant, animal or invertebrate from this reserve. Offenders will be prosecuted.”
Simon Aldridge read the large sign once more as he held onto his sides trying to regain his breath. He grabbed his inhaler from the inside of his coat pocket, took his first shot of Salbutamol and slowly breathed deeper as his lungs began to become more relaxed. He coughed into the cold November air and watched his breath dissipate before putting the inhaler back into his pocket. After composing himself he whistled to his border collie, Jack, and walked past the yellow barrier that lead onto ‘The Eyes’.
The Eyes were perfect dog walking terrain, four vast areas of land created from all the scum and sludge dredged from the North-West Ship Canal. Four far-reaching, almost circular areas of land each crowned with a raised track surrounding overgrown scrubland, trees, grasses and nettles all thriving from the mineral enriched silt creating a haven for creatures and small beasts. A nature reserve of wild curiosity and natural beauty…that was until the 'Weed' arrived.
It was a short walk from the barrier to the raised track of the first Eye. Jack had disturbed both rabbits and a pheasant as he rummaged through the lifeless nettles and dying brambles, but Simon had started coughing again. His second coughing fit was much heavier causing him to stop and bend over. Echoes of doubt of whether he should be taking such a lengthy walk were beginning to enter his mind, but a second shot from his inhaler relaxed his muscles and allowed him to breathe normally. After several deep breaths his mind began to feel at ease so he placed the inhaler back into his coat pocket and carried on with his walk.
As Simon reached the half way-point around the first Eye, he felt the morning breeze pick up and almost instantly he felt his chest tighten once more. He’d experienced the onset of asthma many times and as long as he had his inhaler it gave him little concern. However, this time the symptoms were affecting him within seconds. He stood still and reached into his pocket tapping his fingers on the inhaler undecided as to whether he should take a couple more doses, but even with his chest still tight and his lungs slightly aching he eventually carried on. That was until he noticed there was something wrong with Jack.
Simon held his ribs and stared at the border-collie who kept stopping, sniffing the air and whining as if he was frightened of something. Then Jack stopped and looked into the central marshland of the first Eye and barked at nothing, or at least nothing that Simon could see. All of a sudden a low drone vibrated on the air, a faint deep monotone hum that lingered around them. Simon gave another violent cough, and then another that hurt his ribs causing him to shriek in pain. The droning gradually became louder as the morning breeze picked up. He looked into the middle of the Eye and noticed the large plants that accumulated in its centre were swaying violently against the wind. Without warning Simon started to cough even heavier as if he’d just breathed in a large cloud of burning embers. He wheezed, desperate to get his breath, his coughing becoming more and more violent shaking his upper body causing his lungs to almost burst inside his chest. It was as if a fire had been lit in his diaphragm causing his lungs to burn and blister. Simon inhaled as hard as he could but his chest was closing up, only small pockets of air were keeping him from losing consciousness.
Jack barked as Simon fell to one knee trying desperately to drag air into his lungs. The fierce asthma attack had punished him in seconds. He hadn't experienced anything so acute or witnessed such an onset of the symptoms before. He scrambled the inhaler from his jacket pocket and flicked away the mouthpiece with his thumb. He held the plastic contraption to his lips but he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t inhale any of the antidote rendering the device ineffective. In vain he held it to his mouth and pressed the bottle shooting the gas into his mouth hoping it would somehow find a way down his windpipe. But it felt as though a foreign substance was slowly closing the last gaps of air in his body, squeezing out every last gasp of breath. He felt the inevitable dizziness overcome him and let the inhaler drop to the floor, he fell to both knees and took his mobile phone from his pocket. With blurred vision he brought up his home number and hit the call button.
Simon’s wife, Terri, stared helplessly at the wall in the hallway as she listened to the sharp breathless gasps of her husband trying desperately to breathe. The word 'help' was croaked slowly down the receiver. Terri cried out Simon’s name, but all she heard was the sound of the phone falling to the ground and the final struggling breaths of him asphyxiating. The silence that followed was the realisation of Terri greatest fear, a realisation that almost tore her stomach in two.
Read extracts from 'They Grow Upon The Eyes' here
