A few years ago I had a short soft horror story published at HorrorMasters called No Way. It was inspired by Brian, an eccentric loner who used to dangerously walk from his village to my City most days. A round trip of 14 miles or so but 10 of those along a narrow twisting lane along which hurled trucks, buses and me on my bike. Brian had many narrow scrapes on that road.
In my story he is about to be struck by a white van but is pulled through a hedge by a mysterious benefactor. The saviour shows him a little-known ancient footpath that runs parallel to the road. This footpath exists in reality in part as an old Roman road. I shant spoil the ending but will put a link at the end for you to freely read.
I discovered a few days ago that Brian had died. Police, alerted by neighbours, broke down his door in the village of Dodleston, Cheshire, UK, and found his body. An inquest is pending but it is estimated he’d died ten days before discovery. A sad lonely demise for my protagonist and yet pertinent to the story. I wonder if he realised he was in that story though others did know. On Friday I walked much of the route he did from Dodleston to Chester as a kind of commemorative tribute. Rest in Peace, Brian.
Jessie Lilley(Editor of Mondo Cult in California) wrote a screenplay version of No Way and transported the action to America. I believe it is waiting for a wise film producer to pick it up.
Here’s the original story (apologies for the looseness of my early writing style).
