Darkest Part of the Woods by Ramsey Campbell

already a few minutes late. He wouldn't be loitering at the desk, where the computer screen displayed a faint reflection of his face with little of a mouth and less for eyes, if he hadn't risen earlier than he ordinarily did on his days off work. He'd felt a need to look out of the window, not that there was much to be certain he was seeing. It didn't help him remember why the knees of his trousers had been stained with mud the last time he'd come home from the woods.

    The glassy light of a sky laced with fast thin whitish clouds showed treetops flaking like dead skin in the wind. The sun was caught in a dance of branches that seemed constantly about to sway in unison. The far edge of the common was crowded with shadows bent on clawing the ground into the woods. Of course it was the wind and not the shadows that kept urging the grass towards them in waves, but he couldn't shake off the notion that there were more elongated spindly shadows than trees bordering the forest to cast them. He hadn't been able to locate the source of the impression when the doorbell rang.

    Once he heard his father's voice he made himself leave the window. Sylvia had let his father in. Though he would have combed it before leaving the car, his black irredeemably wavy hair was tousled by the wind, and so was the pale blue silk scarf that adorned his throat within the collar of his dark blue shirt. He glanced up the stairs, and his comfortably overfed face sent Sam a wink.

    "Morning, old chap. I'm just meeting your delightful guest."

    "She's my aunt."

    "Sylvia." Sam's father appeared to recoil as he stepped back for a more comprehensive look. "I don't know if you'll remember me," he said. "I'm Terry Harvey, your nephew's old man."

    "Heather told me we were expecting you."

    "I hope that didn't sound too ominous."

    "Just as neutral as could be."

    If his father and Sylvia were flirting, Sam couldn't help feeling uneasy, but then her presence in the house had that effect on him. He limped downstairs as his father said "How does it feel to come back to a village when you've seen so much of the world?"

    "Everything that's part of me is here."

    "Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest... That's to say, I know this is your home."

    "Maybe you should check with Heather."

    "You know he doesn't need to, Sylvie," Sam's mother called from the kitchen.

    "Apologies if I assumed too much," Sam's father nonetheless said. "I thought I'd grown out of that habit."

    Sam took another step down, only for his father to break the awkward silence. "I was really just saying how much of life you must have seen before you decided to come home."

    "Some of us didn't feel we had the choice," Sam's mother said as though she didn't care if she was heard.

    "Is that maybe a shade unreasonable? I wasn't thinking about you."

    "Hardly the first time."

    "I was thinking of this young fellow," he said, and to Sylvia "I keep telling him he ought to find out how much more there is to life than here and the town up the road. So where are we heading today, Sam?"

    "Can we go into town for lunch?"

    "That gets my vote, only another time you might want to come down to me. Stay chez Harvey any Saturday night by all means. Fridays too if you like."

    "Not London, Brichester. I promised Andy I'd check the shop if I was round that way."

    "If we're really only going up the road, anyone else who wants feeding is welcome to join us."

    "No, you go and be uninhibited," Sam's mother said, he couldn't tell how slyly.

    "This is the boys' day."

    His father's glossy black Rover had refrained from invading the personal space of the Civic and the Volkswagen on the paving in front of the house. A swarm of contorted parchment-coloured leaves came scuttling along the road, and one shaped like a reptile's claw swooped towards Sam as he shut himself in the Rover. The car was gliding out of Woodland Close when his father said "So was I making as much of your aunt as everyone seemed to believe?"

    "I