The Haunter in the Dark 

This is a story about Brooker and his crew-to make any sense of it read 'Chess' first! 

'I think my head's stuck.' 

'Reaalllly Brooker.' Grace tried to suppress the pleasure in her voice but somehow failed miserably. She looked down at the boiler suited figure on all fours on the floor with his head stuffed in the hole in the loading bay wall. 'Can you see it?' 

'I can't see anything in here,' came Brookers muffled voice from behind the wall. 'It's gloomier than Denz's last girlfriend.' 

'Cigar Brooker?' Denz offered with a wide grin. 'Oh no you can't, can you?' 

'So does that mean if one of us were to kick you hard up the backside you wouldn't know which one of us it was? Grace eyed up Brooker's ample rear end. 

'I would know it was you Grace... or Denz....or Beal. Is he there by the way?' 

'Yes he's here. He's his normal chatty self. ' Denz winked at Beal. 'Hmmm I'll take those odds Brooker the opportunity's far too good to miss. Hands up who wants to go first.' 

'While you all form an orderly queue can someone tell me exactly what I'm looking for?'  

'It was a sort of creepy bony thingy,' offered Grace remembering the creature she'd seen scuttling out from under the cargo boxes across the floor into the hole in the wall. 

'For a 'gist' and given my belief that you were widely read of material covering an eclectically extensive range of subjects Grace your repartee sadly does you an injustice. I would have thought you'd been able to offer a more descriptive insight into exactly what it was that is lurking in this wall.' 

'We probably picked it up when we did that drop in Zumma 5. That warehouse was a right dump crawling with all sorts.' Denz took a long drag on Brooker's cigar.  

'Picked up what!' yelled an irritable voice from the other side of the wall. 

'It was black with long yellow teeth, big white round eyes and long claws.' Grace offered. 

'Why didn't you tell me that before I stuck my head into this hole?' sighed Brooker 

'Because Denz asked me not to.' Grace waggled a reproachful finger at Denz. 'We all thought it might be a bit amusing. Anyway we didn't know you'd get your big fat nonce stuck in there did we?' 

'Denz you'd better get a few advance kicks in now because when I get out of here vengeance is going to be swift, long winded, without mercy and directed with some force at your posterior. Grace, long claws you say?' The headless body wriggled madly trying desperately to pull free. 

'Anybody ever read Winnie the Pooh. The one where the fatty bear got stuck in a hole?' Denz blew a couple of smoke rings into the air. 

 'Grace. The claws!' shouted Brooker.  

'Yes Brooker. Long claws. Sort of snippy.' Grace held up her fingers and clicked them together. 

'Snippy?' Brooker sounded decidedly.....snippy. 

'Yes a bit like you are now Brooker.' 

'I am not snippy!' growled the voice. 'Wait a moment there's something here. The little scaly rat face has been watching me all this time. Hold on. Oh God! No! No! Get me out of here!' 

Brooker's body thrashed wildly, arms lashing out into the air as he struggled to pull free. 

'Come on, get him out of there! 'Screamed Grace grabbing at Brooker's flailing arms. 

    **** 

Brooker opened his eyes. Grace, Denz and Beal were looking down at him. Grace quickly wiped away a tear from her face hoping Brooker would not notice. Her hands were still shaking. 

Beal, face flushed red, patted Brooker on the chest then looked away. 

'What's wrong?' Brooker looked up at them. He tried to sit up, his arms trembling under his weight. 

Grace gently pushed him back down. 'Lie still Brooker I've given you a muscle relaxant. We managed to pull you out after that thing attacked you.' 

'Here Brooker have this.' Denz took his cigar and thrust it into Brooker's mouth. 'Look I'm sorry about the Winnie the Pooh thing. I didn't really mean it, you know that. Grace you tell him. I can't.' 

'Tell me what?' Brooker could hear the waiver in his voice. 

'Brooker, sweet.' Grace placed a cooling hand on his forehead. 'It's bad news I'm afraid. But don't worry, it can be fixed.' 

Brooker's eyes widened in alarm.  

'What! For God's sake. What!' 

'It's taken your moustache.'

Probably building a nest I should think! 

The Haunter of the Dark was a classic horror story by HP Lovecraft. A story somewhat scarier than this one.