Horizon: File 026 (Me)

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FILE 026: ME

Okay. It's 10pm and it's raining again. I'm parked up beside a nightclub. One of those seedy ones that are down back alleyways. I mean it might not be seedy, but the neon lights depicting a woman astride a huge gun tell me otherwise.

Oh, that and it's called Legz.

Anyway. This was where the Angel, Tempestia, told me to go. Although quite why my daughter would be in a nightclub in a back alley in Halifax I'll never know. Hopefully I'll find out soon. I'm supposed to wait. What for? I don't know, but Tempestia told me that I'd know when I saw it.

So, back to what Roper had told me - that I was this Angel that the Electric Woman was trying to get to. That she was hunting her down. But he had escaped before he had gotten anymore information from her. He said he hadn't been certain about it until I'd taken the ring. That the fact that I could hear the singing coming from it had more or less confirmed his fears. I asked him, rather hysterically I guess, what other evidence he had. He had none.

But even then the cogs had begun to turn in my head. I mean don't get me wrong - there was no way I was about to allow myself to believe I was a bloody Angel. Firstly, at the time, I didn't even believe that there were such things. Ghosts, yes. Demons, quite possibly. But Angels? Nah. It was all a load of bollocks.

But then Roper showed me something else. Another file that had been encrypted by Horizon. It wouldn't open. It wouldn't load. Nothing. It wasn't even password protected. It just wouldn't load. He had done some digging into the file properties and it seemed that only certain levels of agents had access. Level X. Roper had told me that he had never even heard of Level X agents, and that worried me, and concerned him greatly. He had a look on his face that I'll never forget. Like his already impossible world was opening up to stuff even beyond his knowledge.

But the unreadable file - the file we were so desperate to crack open - was named Xoana. And in brackets, next to the initial name, was my name, Zoe.

I'd live a pretty quiet life. My parents had died when I had been so young, but I'd been brought up by my older sister, Vicky. So, I guess it was time to visit the only person who could possibly confirm or deny these crazy theories that Simon Roper had.

It was time to visit my sister. And I hadn't seen her in over seven years.

And if I can direct your attention to what's going on right now - the entire nightclub has just been plunged into darkness...

END REPORT

Copyright © 2023 by Jim Allenby

All rights reserved. This post or any portion thereof

may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

without the express written permission of the publisher

except for the use of brief quotations in a review.

Horizon: File 025 (They Walk the Earth)

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FILE 025: THEY WALK THE EARTH

I said in my first ever post that I discovered something that quite literally turned my life around. Of course, I was referring to Horizon, but from my discovery of Horizon my world very rapidly span out of control. My life was turned around by Horizon, but it was more than that. It was the loss of my daughter, Eleanor, but it was also the information I learnt about myself.

And it was this information that caused me to have my breakdown, one that I've only recently recovered from.

God, where do I start?

Okay, so I last left you with me returning the Angel Ring to Tempestia, a literal, god-damn Angel...! We need to rewind before I go into that.

So Simon Roper wanted to tell me about what happened to him in Hell. So I allowed him. At this point the poor guy had been through enough for one lifetime and he looked as though he had kept this bottled up inside him for an eternity. And so he told me.

Told me how Horizon had found a doorway into Hell itself. How they had opened up some strange, dark opening in the depths of a pit in Malta. He told me that he didn't believe that Hell was underneath us, but that what they found was simply one of the many doorways that could lead you to Hell. No sooner had he escaped, however, than it had closed up. Horizon never found their way in again.

But it was what he discovered in Hell that obliterated anything that I thought I knew about myself. He told me that the woman, identified in the database as Subject 3 - the Electric Woman, had spoken to him. She asked him what he knew about those that walked the Earth. She had hurt him. He was tight-lipped on how, but every time he thought of it his hand would go to his scarred face. And he insisted that what she did to him wasn't important. It's what she had spoken to him about. She had told him that she was looking for something - for someone. That someone she knew had come to Earth. Had come to our world.

I had made another cuppa for us so Simon could compose himself, but I felt he needed something stronger. He had refused, wishing to remain clear-headed.

He continued. He had managed to locate the doorway back out of Hell, but before he had escaped, the Electric Woman had told him that an Angel walked the Earth and she was looking for her.

For her.

And it was at that moment that Simon Roper had informed me that he believed that I, Zoe Parish, was that Angel.

END REPORT

Copyright © 2023 by Jim Allenby

All rights reserved. This post or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a review.

Horizon: File 024 (The Stone Circle)

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FILE 024: THE STONE CIRCLE

The Angel ring is gone. I'm sat on my laptop in the car. The rain is running down the windows. It's hammering it down actually. And it's still cold. But...I have what I need. And I'm going to need a moment to think about what I've just been told.

I guess when I came to the stone circle, I didn't expect to actual see them. To actually witness an honest to God Angel. But...yeah. That's how I interpreted her at least. She was very careful not to advertise herself as an Angel.

It started as a vibration underneath my feet. I could barely hear anything. It almost felt as if the world had been sealed inside its own little bubble. A bubble that contained just me and the stones.

How can I describe the circle? It wasn't like stone henge or anything. This felt, in a way, much more ancient. It was nestled in a dip in the ground. Not big enough to be a valley. More like a giant hand had punched into the ground. And scattered around the edge were large, misshapen stones. They looked like they'd been dropped from a great height and had buried themselves in the earth.

I was aware, around about the time of the vibrations, that it had gotten warmer. Steam had risen from the stones, melting the thin layer of frost that had coated them overnight. I'd had to shield my eyes. The stones had become translucent, white-hot light flaring and burning from within them. I could barely keep on my feet.

I must have passed out, because when I awoke, she was standing in front of me. A woman with long blonde hair - a little like my own - with her hair swept back across her face. She wore greying-white robes and sandals on her feet. A grey cloud had skittered across the morning soon and cast her in shadow so all I could see was the silver flecks in her chrome-coloured eyes.

She introduced herself as Tempestia.

I know what you're thinking - what happened to Roper? What about the Electric Woman? How does this tie into the file about Hell. I'm getting there, I promise. But at this moment...at this moment I need to explain this to you, because just now I've finally found how I canget my daughter back.

And yet, as I sit here in my car, laptop in front of me, rain pounding against the windscreen, I consider everything I learnt with Roper. The truth that we uncovered. This laptop...this technology. All of this... It scarcely seems to matter now in the grand scheme of things. Because right now all I need to do is get to my Eleanor.

What did the Angel say to me when I handed her the ring? Well, that's for another day. Next time I need to take you back to what Roper and myself discovered.... about myself!

END REPORT

Copyright © 2023 by Jim Allenby

All rights reserved. This post or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a review.

Horizon: File 023 (Subject 3: The Electric Woman)

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FILE 023: SUBJECT 3: THE ELECTRIC WOMAN

If they're coming, they're definitely taking their sweet time about it. Fuck, it's cold! I wish I'd brought my scarf, but that would require heading back home for that. Oh, I must be bloody crazy stood out here in the middle of a frigging stone circle on a freezing cold day. I may have to give them a piece of my mind when they arrive.

Maybe. You never quite know with supernatural entities, do you?

Roper had hovered over the link to Subject 3. I'll never forget that look on his face. This was worse than fear. This was pure terror. This was something deep and primal. I had gently moved his hand away from the mouse and, smiling sadly at him, had clicked the link myself.

It was a scant read. Subject 3, or the Electric Woman, had been seen on a number of occasions throughout the decades. One of these events titled "The Crossley Farm Affair" led to a dead link. Roper had looked deeper into the file and discovered it had been erased sometime ago by someone called Albert Knox. A lot of the sightings of her had been fleeting and very brief. Some witness reports had detailed how she had seduced the husbands or partners of women and they had never been seen again. She'd been seen hanging around church ruins not far from here - Owlston - and had been named the Electric Woman due to the strange effect of her eyes. One witness had claimed he had gotten so close that he had seen tendrils of light in her silver irises.

And then there was a link to "Hell".

I'd swallowed and glanced over to Roper, who was looking more composed. More resolute. I had been ready to click on the link when he had stopped me. He wanted to tell me this himself. Somehow I felt he needed to tell me to get it out of his system more than anything. And so I let him.

Okay, folks, it's showtime. I think they here. Except...now I don't know if I want to give them the Angel Ring. I guess I don't have much of a choice now, do I? I'll be right back. I hope!

END REPORT

Copyright © 2023 by Jim Allenby

All rights reserved. This post or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a review.

Horizon: File 022 (The Angel Ring)

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FILE 022: THE ANGEL RING

Roper and I discovered a few things about the Item 769, aka the Angel Ring. Firstly that it was discovered in Bangladesh by an archeologist called Harry Summerfield in 1924. It had gone back to the UK with him and had been kept at the British Museum for a good few years before going missing one night in the mid 1930's.

At some point it had fallen into the hands of the Nazi's during World War Two. The file was vague on this, but it stipulated that it had been stolen by a German infiltrator and smuggled out of the country. It had then gone missing for at least twenty years, when it had found its way back to Bangladesh. It wasn't until the early 1980's when Horizon had become aware of it after the junk shop it had been residing in had been attacked by...something.

Accounts on the something were also vague, but eye-witnesses had reported dark shapes. When spoken to, one of the witnesses had said that it was like the spirits had tried to invade the shop. Evidently the ring hadn't been taken by these dark shapes, or spirits. Why? We don't know. The report on the ring doesn't go into detail on it. For some reason or other they weren't able to take it.

There was a linked file to something called Subject 3, which I'll go into detail next time. But Subject 3 - a woman with silver hair and a blue dress - had been seen in Bangladesh at the time of the supposed attack from these spirits.

And a woman with a blue dress and silver hair had been glimpsed on the Hell video. The one that Roper had filmed.

But I'm jumping ahead... The Angel Ring was finally claimed by Horizon, who took it back to the UK and subsequently locked it away in the Well. They'd performed tests on the ring, but had gleaned nothing from it. The ring had simply become inert. Very, very unlike what it was doing right now in my hand.

So...Subject 3. The woman with the blue dress. She's incredibly important to what's been going on here, and Roper had a tale to tell about her.

END REPORT

Copyright © 2023 by Jim Allenby

All rights reserved. This post or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a review.

Horizon: File 021 (Escape)

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FILE 021: ESCAPE

Today I've come to a location that you lot will know about. And by "you lot" I mean Horizon. Because I know you're still reading these. And by the time you figure out what's going on it'll be too late. It's cold, but the sun is trying to break through the clouds. Perhaps it'll be lucky today. It's so quiet here. So silent. Like a Sunday morning after a fresh falling of snow during the night.

Considering I'm still writing these, then you can guess that I escaped from the Well. Roper had nabbed what we needed and the guard had helped us to get out and away before anymore of their goons had descended on our location. It was only when we were driving back in Roper's car that I had finally opened my clenched fist to discover that I had - inexplicably - picked up Item 769. I can't remember doing it and I no longer heard the singing, but I must have done it subconsciously.

Roper took us back to his flat - a basic set up (one bedroom, one kitchen, a bathroom and a living room) above a shop in one of the suburbs of Lincoln. He'd made us a cuppa (he made the world's best cuppa's) and had told me to get some rest. I'd insisted we look at what he'd taken from the Well, but before I'd even finished protesting I had already found my eyelids closing. When I'd woken up it had been morning and Roper had placed a blanket over me whilst I had slept soundly on the sofa.

After another cup of tea and a bacon sandwich (he also made the world's best bacon sandwiches!), he'd fired up his laptop and inserted a USB stick that he told me he had used to download information from the Well. I'd questioned him on what he'd actually taken. He'd simply looked at me with that scarred and weary face and said, "Everything."

And so we looked up Item 769, which was sub-headed with another name: The Angel Ring.

I held the ring in the palm of my hand, staring down at it. The ring felt alive. I could feel it humming against my skin. It didn't feel cold and inert - it felt like it was vibrating with power. It wanted to be held. It was calling out to me.

It was calling out to me...

It's funny, isn't it? The decisions we make. The choices we take. That's why I'm here now. That's why I'm standing at this stone circle on a cold and miserable Sunday morning. Because they're coming for it. The want the ring back, and I guess now is as good a time as any to give it back to them. Maybe this way I'll finally get Eleanor back.

END REPORT

Copyright © 2023 by Jim Allenby

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Horizon: File 020 (Item 769)

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FILE 020: ITEM 769

Roper hadn't deceived me. Far from it. The guard, it turns out, was a friend of his. Someone still loyal to him who continued to feed information to him. After a warm hug and a greeting, the guard - who I'd learned was called Nathaniel - had allowed us access to the Well. A key card had been swiped across an access panel beside the door and we'd entered with no issues. Nathaniel had warned Roper that there would be a change over in about an hour and we had to be quick.

A set of spiral stairs led down towards the bottom of the shaft underneath the strange, wooden hut and opened out into a huge, cavernous storage facility - a little like that one in Raiders of the Lost Ark. This one was different. This was more like a cavern. We were very clearly underground. The rough, rocky ceiling was proof of that. Shelves ran in rows from the far wall off into the far distance.

Roper told me that objects were stored here. A multitude of objects, but what we needed was something a little less obvious. We needed to access Horizon's systems. Whilst Roper headed off towards what looked like a portacabin set against the right hand wall, I took some time to wander along the shelves.

There was too much here. Too much for me to take in and look at. There were ceremonial swords, bracelets, gems of all manner of colour, books, video tapes, reel to reel players, toys, dolls, necklaces...Each one with a white sticker affixed in front of them. Each sticker had black, embossed letters stamped into them. Item 235, Item 675, Item 500, and so on...

It was as I was wandering the shelves that I heard the singing. A soft, female voice drifting in and out of my ears. It was a song I didn't recognise, but I felt compelled to follow it. I would turned and head in a different direction and the voice would become fainter. Then I would turn again and the voice would become louder. By following the voice I was finally able to find the source.

Or rather not the source at all.

I reached the place were the voice was loudest - a shelf containing a simple, plain, brass ring. The sticker at the front proclaimed it to be Item 769. As I reached for the ring the singing stopped abruptly and all that was left was the silence ringing in my ears. There was a faint buzz - a vibration - coming from the ring. I was about to reach out and touch it when I heard Roper's voice calling out urgently from back towards the entrance.

My senses were flooded as bright, white lights exploded into life, followed by a high-pitched alarm and Roper shouting that we needed to leave.

We had been detected.

END REPORT

Copyright © 2023 by Jim Allenby

All rights reserved. This post or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a review.