As the nights get darker earlier, we readers find it the perfect time for stories that make us jump, shake and dive under the covers, and the latest novel by horror specialists, Haunt Publishing, Bethnothinged by Alvar Theo, absolutely fits the bill.

Benothinged
By Alvar Theo
Published by Haunt Publishing

I had intended to only walk with him for a while and make sure we separated before we neared my home, but then we got to talking. He asked the usual sort of stuff like my name and then why the hell was that my name. There was, of course, a story behind said name, but I changed the subject in case it set me off. I asked him about busking. That went on for a while. Then out of nowhere he asked me if I wanted to hear a story. 

‘What kind of story?’

We were just a couple of streets away from my place. I would have felt guilty about having him walk that far, but he seemed to be enjoying my company. That was a fun little first for me. 

‘It’s a bit of a spooky story.’ 

‘Sure.’ I figured it was safe, seeing as I would be having a chemically induced sleep that night. 

‘There’s this terrifying monster called The Nothing.’

‘That’s what I’m afraid of.’

He looked up, confused. 

‘Nothing.’

His laugh sounded forced. 

‘What does it do? Eat you?’

‘It’s probably more accurate to say that it consumes you. It picks isolated people like the elderly or the homeless. Once it takes you, it has you, body and soul. It feeds on you.’ 

‘What’s it look like?’ 

‘The people it takes. It can wear their faces. That’s how it gets close to people in the first place. It needs to know that you’re all alone, that no one wants you. Then it pounces.’

‘How do you fight it?’ 

He shrugged. ‘I guess you just have to find somebody to want you.’

‘Well, that’s me shit out of luck.’

He flashed me a weak smile. He was giving off a weirdly intense vibe, staring at the floor and brooding. 

‘But then again, I’m not elderly or homeless so I should be all right.’

‘I hope so,’ V said, far too seriously for the conversation I thought we were having. 

We came to the start of the bungalow row, and I had enough sense to stop there rather than let the nice stranger see exactly where I lived. 

‘This is me.’ 

V stopped and looked around. I got the impression that he was surprised, like he’d spaced out and not realised how far we had walked. 

‘Do you want some bus fare to get back to town?’

He shook his head. ‘No, I’m staying out of town for the rest of the day. I don’t want to chance running into Ginger again.’ He smiled down at me. ‘Take care of yourself, Mx Mask.’

‘You too, Mr V.’

I waited for him to walk away first. It had been nice to talk to someone. Obviously, I had spent some time with Doris, but it wasn’t quite the same thing as talking to someone roughly my own age who I actually had some things in common with. Plus, I hadn’t been constantly watching out for signs that he wasn’t okay and needed my help. 

I went inside and tried not to let my imagination run away with me. He was homeless. I most likely wouldn’t be able to find him again even if I went looking. There was zero reason to assume he wanted to make friends with some random person anyway. I just needed to write it off as a pleasant encounter with a person I was never going to see again and let it go. I was too old for making a new friend; I’d missed the boat on that one. 

When I entered my bedroom that evening, I found the wig head wearing make-up. Lipstick was smeared over her mouth and her eyes were blacked out with mascara. I had no memory of doing that, but I’d certainly done crazier shit when I couldn’t sleep. Plus, I could recall finding Nan’s make-up when I was looking for nail varnish. 

Instead of dwelling on my nocturnal nonsense, I took a huge shot of the night-night drugs and passed out somewhere around nine. No staring into space, no driving myself crazy. Just sweet, blissful nothing. 

Benothinged by Alvar Theo is published by Haunt Publishing, priced £12.00.