Excerpt from the chapter "Entwined" (short story linked to Anthony Draven's research):

Greeneye stood outside the cabin door, taking one last drag from his cigarette. Looking out across the partially snowy landscape, the robber let his fears subside. Finally, Greeneye realised that the police would never catch them out here. Dirk had been monitoring the television and radio stations, but the law had no leads.

Far across the landscape, Greeneye heard a wolf cry. It unnerved him. The wolf made the ghostly noise again. Greeneye had lived on a farm as a child. He knew that sound. It was not the howl of an animal. It was a cry of warning, a cry for the dead.

As Greeneye left the night and re-entered the cabin, a hundred eyes turned toward the hut and the five souls within. The wolf pack’s leader cried again to warn his brothers and sisters from venturing near. The cabin was unholy; the wolves could smell it. There was a shadow of death hanging above it. It had been marked.

________________________________________________________________________________

Steven Rakes found sleep hard to find but, when he did, he did not wake again until dawn. Nothing had occupied his mind that night; nothing at all. Everything that he had ever known had virtually disappeared over night. However, his despair, hurt, pain and fear all returned when he woke. Everything returned, except the memories of his twin brother. Daniel Rakes was no more.

Steven stood in the lounge, unable to even think about his day ahead. His world had crumbled around him, leaving only himself, as one.

Later that day his wife Lisa sat with Steven, her hand grasping his tightly. Opposite them sat one of Steven’s closest of friends. However, in the circumstances, it was a position that neither of them cherished. Paul Flint had been a psychiatrist in the hospital where Steven had practised for five years now and had also been friends of Lisa and Steven since college. It hurt him deeply to see Steven so weak, so shallow in his life force. The psychiatrist had never come across this kind of problem before.

After an hour of counselling, Paul heard Lisa leave the house. It was only then that the psychiatrist made his breakthrough. Searching Steven’s mind, he would find something that would leave the psychiatrist bewildered, and afraid. Steven Rakes was dying, and there was only one soul that could save him.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As Steven pushed himself from the snow, he caught sight of the moon high above him through the forest cover. His body felt so numb, and his head stung from the intense cold. As he tried to clamber through the thicket and branches, Steven Rakes heard a sound that was only too easy to identify. It made his heart ice over. He stopped instantly in his tracks, unwilling to risk any movement. He heard the sound again. They were coming closer.

From out of the dense woodland ahead of him, two wolves crept into view. They already knew that Steven was here. Their eyes did not betray their curiosity. As Steven turned his body away from their advancement, he caught sight of three more to his left. Then he noticed other movements, shifting in the undergrowth. Steven closed his eyes, but the end never came.

When Steven Rakes finally opened his eyes, there remained only one wolf, but the human could still feel so many other eyes still watching him.

As Steven looked toward the lone wolf, he noticed that the animal seemed confident in his company, even content. Steven felt his eyes glaze over, his fears finally turning to relief. Then his heart jumped, as four wolves appeared from the forest cover to his right. Steven felt his heart quicken. There was something smaller with them.

Before the wolves reached him, they came to a halt. The cub however did not. It continued to plod forward in the snow; its tiny limbs fighting for every step. He looked back at the lone wolf and stared deep into its eyes. Steven Rakes suddenly understood.

Lisa heard the scream and rushed to Steven’s side. She saw his tears and hugged him tight, so tight that she became scared of bruising him. He seemed not to notice her intense grip, however. Lisa would never understand, but Steven Rakes was walking out of his life in the pursuit of another. He had not only forgotten his brother Daniel; he had started to forget himself. As she clung to him, his touch no longer seemed the same.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

‘You alright?’ Christine asked to her companion, as the sun began to set across the red sky in front of them.

‘Yeah,’ Greeneye answered her. ‘It’s gone,’ he said plainly.

‘What’s gone?’ she asked him quizzically.

‘The demons,’ he smiled. Christine noticed that his fear had indeed dissipated. She misjudged his last comment to mean instead of his own demons. However, Greeneye meant something different entirely. The wolves had stopped crying at night now. They howled instead. Only Greeneye had noticed this simple difference, but it was only Greeneye who had listened in the first place.

‘Let’s go inside,’ Christine smiled before heading on in. Something still troubled Greeneye but he no longer could reason what it was. He watched the sun disappear and the moon take hold of the night. Letting her drift inside alone, he stayed outside for a while.

And still the wolves looked on…

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

About the novel "Ice Ghosts":

Ice Ghosts https://amzn.eu/d/1P2Yuid

Available as Kindle or paperback (self-publishing)