In the cave again, Matthew was floating above the rocky path, moving on toward an eerie red glow.
This time the grey hand pulled him down to ground level.
“Don’t be scared,” said the hovering apparition in front of him. “I’m Jonas de Longford. This is no dream; we have to meet - the time is short. You must come to the cave at the inlet past the Deil’s Heid stack.”
Matthew tried to speak but, although his lips were moving, he found he could not utter a word.
He awoke, it was cold and dark. He glanced at his bedside clock; it was ten after two.
With Jonas’s words fresh in his mind, he arose and dressed in the dark. Then he descended the stairs without putting on a light for he was certain the two men who came to talk to him at his work were watching the house.
He searched through the hallway cupboard, finding a flashlight which illuminated the space. He then slipped out the back door and climbed over the garden fence and set out for the cliffs.
The early morning was still, but cold. Matthew could see his breath arise in front of him like some escaping phantom. He left the welcoming glow of the streetlights and made his way into Victoria Park, into the dark.
The moon was a curved slither. He stumbled along the path at the top of the park, not using the torch, preferring to save the battery power for the dangerous journey ahead.
The park pathway eventually became the cliff top path. Matthew could hear the roar of the waves washing over the rocks below as he switched on the torch. He kept to the inside of the path being thankful it wasn’t windy.
After a long and often stumbling trek, on the wet slippery verges Matthew could see the dark mass of the Deil’s Heid. So where was the inlet? He shone the torch along the cliff top, and, then after a moment he knew where to go.
As he entered the black maw that was the cave, two pigeons erupted and flew out, raising his blood pressure, which was way past normal. He moved further into the cave shining the torch all around making shadows move on the craggy walls.
The cave smelled damp, and there was the sound of running water from somewhere up ahead.
Matthew was losing his nerve and contemplated leaving when…