atmospheric change?’
‘I think, the air was different. Maybe colder. Fuller. Like people had entered the room, and added themselves to it, but behind us. All in my imagination you think. I can tell by your face. And I don’t blame you. I did too. God knows what we were all susceptible to by then. We were exhausted and hungry and nervous, and frightened. But I do remember that there were strange smells too. Horrible smells. Like stagnant water. Like damp clothes that have not been aired. Around 57
ADAM NEVILL
us. Down there with us.’ Susan pointed at the floor. ‘In the sessions, always. And then in our rooms where we slept. I would say it was worse there.
‘We were told the “presences” were here to communicate their wishes to the chosen amongst us. And that we were to analyse the dreams and the visions and to recount them in the sessions.’
‘What did people claim these visions were like?’
‘Some people said they had sudden insights into each other.
Could suddenly see themselves through the eyes of another person, or find themselves in another room. Others said they definitely heard voices beside them, behind them. Some said they travelled.’
‘Travelled?’
‘Out of their bodies while they slept. And they all acted like it was some kind of holy experience. But I couldn’t believe there was anything holy about it. Quite the opposite.
To me, it felt like an infestation.’
‘Did you have one of these experiences?’
‘No. I never heard a thing, or travelled outside of myself or saw through anyone else’s eyes. Nothing like that. I didn’t believe any of it either. People were making it all up to please The Seven and to contribute to Katherine’s delusions, that she was deifying and had these special spirits as compan -
ions, as guides. People would believe anything, or pretend to believe anything she said, so that she would like them more.
That’s how it was at the end.’ Susan paused to compose herself. ‘But the only thing I experienced that I still can’t account for was a participation in a shared vision.’
‘Will you share it with us?’ Kyle heard Dan snigger behind the viewfinder, and threw him a warning glance.
58
LAST DAYS
‘We all dreamed of the same place. The refuge. The new temple. That’s what we were told it was. Katherine had been seeing this place too. The Seven told us.’
‘What did it look like?’
Susan closed her eyes. ‘It was dark. But I remember seeing some stone buildings with wooden roofs in the rain, in fields of long grass. And the sky above them was strange. It was wavy. But wavy the wrong way. Like heat. But coming downwards. Or like the sky wasn’t properly formed. But what was extraordinary was that every person in that session saw the same thing. We couldn’t have suggested it to each other.
Someone cried out that they could see buildings. Another per -
son said yes, they could see them too, and counted them.
And then people began calling out and describing details and features that we could all see inside our minds. Someone said that the place was empty. It was. You could tell. One building was long and white with four sets of long doors. Another was all made of brown wood, like a barn. Roof tiles were missing in the third building.
‘I never spoke up, but I could see every single thing in my head. Everything the people in that room were calling out and describing to each other, I’d had in my mind before anyone spoke.’
‘What was interpreted from this?’
‘That we had shared Katherine’s premonition. That the apocalypse was coming. And the place in the vision was our refuge.
‘We were told that everything had been leading to this.
The long sessions of self-discovery, the removal of our egos.
The tests of our faith, and of our devotion to Katherine, had succeeded. And those of us left in the Gathering were chosen.
59
ADAM NEVILL
We all now had a clear channel of communication with the
“presences”. A time of
‘I think, the air was different. Maybe colder. Fuller. Like people had entered the room, and added themselves to it, but behind us. All in my imagination you think. I can tell by your face. And I don’t blame you. I did too. God knows what we were all susceptible to by then. We were exhausted and hungry and nervous, and frightened. But I do remember that there were strange smells too. Horrible smells. Like stagnant water. Like damp clothes that have not been aired. Around 57
ADAM NEVILL
us. Down there with us.’ Susan pointed at the floor. ‘In the sessions, always. And then in our rooms where we slept. I would say it was worse there.
‘We were told the “presences” were here to communicate their wishes to the chosen amongst us. And that we were to analyse the dreams and the visions and to recount them in the sessions.’
‘What did people claim these visions were like?’
‘Some people said they had sudden insights into each other.
Could suddenly see themselves through the eyes of another person, or find themselves in another room. Others said they definitely heard voices beside them, behind them. Some said they travelled.’
‘Travelled?’
‘Out of their bodies while they slept. And they all acted like it was some kind of holy experience. But I couldn’t believe there was anything holy about it. Quite the opposite.
To me, it felt like an infestation.’
‘Did you have one of these experiences?’
‘No. I never heard a thing, or travelled outside of myself or saw through anyone else’s eyes. Nothing like that. I didn’t believe any of it either. People were making it all up to please The Seven and to contribute to Katherine’s delusions, that she was deifying and had these special spirits as compan -
ions, as guides. People would believe anything, or pretend to believe anything she said, so that she would like them more.
That’s how it was at the end.’ Susan paused to compose herself. ‘But the only thing I experienced that I still can’t account for was a participation in a shared vision.’
‘Will you share it with us?’ Kyle heard Dan snigger behind the viewfinder, and threw him a warning glance.
58
LAST DAYS
‘We all dreamed of the same place. The refuge. The new temple. That’s what we were told it was. Katherine had been seeing this place too. The Seven told us.’
‘What did it look like?’
Susan closed her eyes. ‘It was dark. But I remember seeing some stone buildings with wooden roofs in the rain, in fields of long grass. And the sky above them was strange. It was wavy. But wavy the wrong way. Like heat. But coming downwards. Or like the sky wasn’t properly formed. But what was extraordinary was that every person in that session saw the same thing. We couldn’t have suggested it to each other.
Someone cried out that they could see buildings. Another per -
son said yes, they could see them too, and counted them.
And then people began calling out and describing details and features that we could all see inside our minds. Someone said that the place was empty. It was. You could tell. One building was long and white with four sets of long doors. Another was all made of brown wood, like a barn. Roof tiles were missing in the third building.
‘I never spoke up, but I could see every single thing in my head. Everything the people in that room were calling out and describing to each other, I’d had in my mind before anyone spoke.’
‘What was interpreted from this?’
‘That we had shared Katherine’s premonition. That the apocalypse was coming. And the place in the vision was our refuge.
‘We were told that everything had been leading to this.
The long sessions of self-discovery, the removal of our egos.
The tests of our faith, and of our devotion to Katherine, had succeeded. And those of us left in the Gathering were chosen.
59
ADAM NEVILL
We all now had a clear channel of communication with the
“presences”. A time of
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