The Colour Out of Space

“To the west of Arkham there are many tall hills and valleys thick with forests, where no axe has ever wandered. In narrow, dark ravines on steep slopes, trees cling on by some miracle, and even in summer, sunlight doesn’t play in the streams. On more gentle slopes stand old farms with low stone buildings overgrown with moss—holding age-old secrets of New England. Now the houses are empty, wide chimneys are cracked, and leaning walls barely hold up their steep roofs.

The locals have moved to other places, and outsiders don’t feel comfortable here. No one settled on the farms—not the Franco-Canadians, not the Italians, not the Poles. No matter how they tried, nothing worked out for them. From the very first days their imagination woke up, and although life went on as usual, the imagination wouldn’t let them rest and brought disturbing dreams. That’s why the newcomers rushed to leave—after all, old Emmi Pierce didn’t tell them anything about what he remembers from the old times.

With the years, Emmi became quite strange, as if not quite himself. He’s the only one who knows the whole truth about the past and isn’t afraid of questions—but you wouldn’t envy him. Not because he isn’t afraid—his house stands out on the edge, by a field and roadways…”