{"id":6794,"date":"2019-08-15T08:54:24","date_gmt":"2019-08-15T13:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/?p=6794"},"modified":"2021-02-20T13:10:59","modified_gmt":"2021-02-20T19:10:59","slug":"6794","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/15\/6794\/","title":{"rendered":"The Willows, Part 2 of 4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Scary chat stories, by Algernon Blackwood<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Adapted as scary chat stories by Captivated Chat<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monster_At_The_Door.mp3\" autoplay loop><\/audio><figcaption>Tap arrow button above to hear theme music called Monster at the Door, by Sir Cubworth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/the-willows-recording-pt-2.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption>Tap arrow above to listen to this story being read.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>[relatedYouTubeVideos relation=&#8221;postTitle&#8221; max=&#8221;2&#8243; lang=&#8221;en&#8221; class=&#8221;right horizontal bg-black center&#8221; previewMode=&#8221;true&#8221;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"CV-messages-container CV-mainContainer-android\" style=\" background: none; background-color: #cc0000;\"><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I have been gone so long you probably thought something happened to me, so you came out after me! (Thinking: But there is a look on your face that conveys concern. I certainly see the real reason now for your coming after me: the spell of the place has entered your soul too, and you did not like being alone with your own scary chat stories about this.)\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> River&#8217;s still rising, and the wind&#8217;s relentless.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Luckily our tent&#8217;s in the hollow. I think it&#8217;ll hold up. But I can&#8217;t hold up searching for wood in this wind much longer, what with the increasing difficulty of finding any.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> (Nodding) We will be lucky if we can get away from this island without disaster!\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I am almost angry at you for putting my own thought into words. There is trouble coming, and soon.\n\n\n\n <\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>I awoke at around midnight and looked out. Feeling some disquiet, I crawled quietly out of the tent. I noticed the tops of the bushes opposite, with their moving tracery of leaves. It was incredible, surely, but there, opposite and slightly above me, were shapes of some indeterminate sort, and as the moonlit branches swayed in the wind they grouped themselves about these, forming a series of monstrous outlines that shifted rapidly.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"CV-messages-container CV-mainContainer-android\" style=\" background: none; background-color: #cc0000;\"><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> The village shopkeeper was right.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Then you saw these beings?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Yes. They first became properly visible, these huge figures, just within the tops of the bushes\u2014immense, bronze-colored, moving, and wholly independent of the swaying of the branches.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> You saw them plainly?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I saw them  plainly and noted, when I came to examine them more calmly, that they were very much larger than human, and indeed that something in their appearance proclaimed them to be not human.&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Were they malevolent?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Certainly. Men fear this place with good reason, clearly.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I have felt that was a possibility since we landed.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> They were interlaced one with another, making a great column, and I saw their limbs and huge bodies melting in and out of each other, forming this serpentine line that swayed and twisted spirally in the wind.&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> What did their faces look like?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I never could see. They were nude, dull bronze, fluid shapes, passing up the bushes, within the leaves, almost\u2014rising up in a living column into the heavens.&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> What proof have you?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I admit, none. It may have been an optical illusion. It must be a subjective experience, I argued to myself \u2014 none the less real for that, but subjective. These pictures formed upon the mirror of my imagination, and for some reason I projected them outwards and made them appear objective. Perhaps it is just that.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I&#8217;d have thought so, of course, if I had not had the opportunity to observe otherwise.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> You too? What was your experience?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Outside on the tent there was a sound of many little patterings. In spite of the hot night, I woke feeling clammy and cold. Something was pressing steadily against the sides of the tent and weighing down on it.&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Was it possibly caused by wind or the spray and rain?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> No. I raised a flap and rushed out to see. But when I stood upright I saw that the tent was free. There was nothing impinging, no fallen bough, no rain or spray, nothing approaching, either. I walked around it and then into the bush to look.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> What did you see?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> From the shadows a large figure went swiftly by. Someone passed me, as sure as ever a man did\u2026.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> So you saw one of them!\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Yes, and arriving here, a dreadful discovery leaped out at me, as well, and compared to it my terror of the walking one seemed like nothing.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> For a change, I thought, had somehow come about in the arrangement of the landscape. The bushes now crowded much closer\u2014unnecessarily, unpleasantly close. Certainly they had moved nearer!\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I noticed it, too, but I was afraid to believe my eyes.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Denial was my first reaction, as well. Then the truth followed quickly. Their attack will come, and is coming.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Well, we can do nothing tonight. We must rest, sleep or no. \n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>**********<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"CV-messages-container CV-mainContainer-facebook\" style=\"\"><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-facebook\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-facebook\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-facebook \" style=\"\"> The porridge is cooked and there is just time to bathe.&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-facebook\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-facebook\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-facebook \" style=\"\"> I welcome the aroma of that frizzling bacon.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-facebook\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-facebook\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-facebook \" style=\"\"> River waters around this wild island are still rising, and several islands out in mid-stream have disappeared. Our own island&#8217;s become much smaller.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-facebook\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-facebook\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-facebook \" style=\"\"> Any wood left?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-facebook\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-facebook\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-facebook \" style=\"\"> The wood and the island will finish tomorrow in a dead heat, but there&#8217;s enough to last us till then.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-facebook\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-facebook\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-facebook \" style=\"\"> I plan to plunge in to bathe from the point of the island.&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-facebook\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-facebook\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-facebook \" style=\"\"> I did the same. But stay in close.\n\n\n\n <\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-facebook\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-facebook\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-facebook \" style=\"\"> Right, and I will be quick about it, for we&#8217;d better get off sharp in an hour. \n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-facebook\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-facebook\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-facebook \" style=\"\"> (Thinking: The island has changed a lot in size and shape overnight. The water feels icy, and chunks of sand are flying by like countryside from a speeding car. Bathing under such conditions will be at best exhilarating.)\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-facebook\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-facebook\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-facebook \" style=\"\"> (Thinking: What did Swede imply? He no longer wishes to leave quickly? &#8220;Enough to last till tomorrow&#8221;\u2014he said. What changed his thinking?\n\n\n\n <\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>But the state of his mind is more interesting than anything in his words. He has changed it overnight. His manner is different\u2014a trifle excited, and shy, with a sort of suspicion. I am certain he has gotten frightened, this brave man who is not given to imagining things. He ate little at breakfast.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"CV-messages-container CV-mainContainer-android\" style=\" background: none; background-color: #cc0000;\"><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\">  We&#8217;d better get away within the hour.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Agreed. If they&#8217;ll let us.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Who&#8217;ll let us? The elements?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> The powers of this awful place, whoever they are. The gods are here, if they are anywhere in the world.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Stop looking down at that map. You can&#8217;t tell me you believe the elements can stop us.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Yes. The elements are always the true immortals.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> So you have said, and I agree if you mean the weather, however we can handle the things going on right now. Agreed?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> We shall be fortunate if we get away without further disaster.\n\n\n\n <\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This was exactly what I had dreaded, and I screwed myself up to the point of asking the direct question.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"CV-messages-container CV-mainContainer-android\" style=\" background: none; background-color: #cc0000;\"><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Further disaster? Why, what&#8217;s happened?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> First \u2014 the steering paddle&#8217;s gone.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> The steering paddle gone! This was our rudder, and canoing the Danube in flood without a rudder is suicide. But what could \u2014\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Secondly, there&#8217;s a tear in the bottom of the canoe.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> A tear in it?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> There&#8217;s only one. But here it is. \n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Yes, a long, finely made tear. Thank heavens you spotted it.&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Had we launched without observing it, we&#8217;d have foundered.&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> At first the water would have made the wood swell so as to close the hole, but once out in mid-stream the water would have poured in and our low-riding boat would have filled and sunk rapidly.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> There you see an attempt to prepare a victim for the sacrifice. Mmmph, two victims, rather.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Hmm.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> It wasn&#8217;t there last night.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> We must have scratched her in landing, of course. The stones are very sharp. I know just as well as you do how impossible my explanation sounds. We both examined the boat last night, but we were tired.)&nbsp;&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> And then there&#8217;s this to explain too. The paddle, look at this blade.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> (Thinking: The blade is scraped down all over, beautifully scraped, as though someone had sand-papered it with care, making it so thin that the first vigorous stroke would snap it.)&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Well?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> One of us walked in his sleep and did this thing.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Ah, you can explain everything. (Turning away) Ha-ha-ha.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I see.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> One of us must have done this thing, and it certainly was not me.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> (Thinking: To even suppose that my friend, the trusted companion of a dozen similar expeditions, could have knowingly had a hand in this  sabotage is a thought not to be entertained. But just as absurd is to say this imperturbable, densely practical fellow has suddenly gone mad and is busied with insane purposes.)\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> But he is suddenly nervous, timid, suspicious, aware of goings on he does not speak about.&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> What do you make of the many deep hollows formed in the sand around our tent?&nbsp;&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I noticed them: basin-shaped and of various depths and sizes. The biggest is like a large bowl. The wind, no doubt, was responsible, just as it was for lifting the paddle and tossing it to where it got caught among the willows as the eroding sand and the flood sanded it down.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Really?&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> The rent in the canoe is the only thing that seems quite inexplicable; and, after all, it is conceivable that a sharp point caught it when we landed.&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Ah!\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> (Thinking: My examination of the shore does not support this theory, yet I must cling to it with my diminishing reason. An explanation of some kind, however, is an absolute necessity.)\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Please set the pitch melting, and soon I&#8217;ll join you, although the canoe can&#8217;t be safe for traveling until tomorrow.&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Of course it won&#8217;t.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> You know those hollows in the sand? They&#8217;re all over the island. But you can explain them, no doubt!\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Wind, of course. Have you never watched those little whirlwinds in the street that twirl everything into a circle? This sand&#8217;s loose enough to yield, that&#8217;s all.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Hummph!\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> (Thinking: He is watching me, and yet listening attentively for something I cannot hear. Why else keep turning and staring into the bushes, and up, and out across the water through the willow branches?) Sometimes he even puts his hand to his ear. Why?)\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Ummph!\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> (Thinking: Fortunately he says nothing as he works, because I vaguely dread he will speak of the reason for the willows&#8217; changed aspect. And, if he has reached the same conclusion, my thought that &#8220;it&#8217;s just our imagination&#8221; will no longer be a sufficient response!)\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Look for part 3 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>.<strong> <\/strong>  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scary chat stories, by Algernon Blackwood Adapted as scary chat stories by Captivated Chat I awoke at around midnight and looked out. Feeling some disquiet, I crawled quietly out of the tent. I noticed the tops of the bushes opposite, with their moving tracery of leaves. It was incredible, surely, but there, opposite and slightly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[63,252,245,696,698,224,695,255,261,548,325,694,693,68,632,697,434,276,256,260],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6794"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6794"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=6794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}