Cthulhurotica by Cody Goodfellow, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Jennifer Brozek, Ahimsa Kerp, Carrie Cuinn, Gabrielle Harbowy, Don Pizarro, Madison Woods, Richard Baron, Juan Miguel Marin, Maria Mitchell, Mae Empson, Nathan Crowder, KV Taylor, Andrew Scearce, Constella Espj, Leon J. West, Travis King, Steven J. Searce, Clint Collins, Matthew Marovich, Gary Mark Bernstein, Kirsten Brown, Kenneth Hite, Justin Everett Page A

calling her name into the night. I do not know how long I searched but it seemed like more hours than a normal night contains. Surroundings I knew all too well by the light of day became alien to me as my feet sought hold amongst the shadows. Briars grabbed at my ankles, branches lined with thorns tugged at my clothes, tearing my face and hands, and all the while my heart thundered loudly in my chest for fear that I may actually encounter the thing I had glimpsed. It was as I finally reached the base of Sentinel Hill that I was finally given a respite from my worries for there, appearing out of the dark, moving towards me like a moth to a flame, was my Mamie. I ushered her home and though I questioned her on her whereabouts she remained silent as though under some kind of slumbering spell; the only recognition that she heard my words a smile upon her face which appeared in an almost mocking manner.
    As I lay her upon the bed my eyes strayed in the candle light to her nightclothes and I felt a chill descend upon me. The white of her gown was stained here and there with darkened residue and once again her feet were soiled with mud from where she had traveled, but this was as nothing to the horror I felt when I removed her garment. Though I had before taken advantage of her nocturnal stillness as a welcome chance to find my own release against her soft flesh, this time as I raised the fabric from her sleeping body I came across a moist sticky substance that lay upon her skin. It pooled in the center of her stomach and smeared down the pale expanse of her thighs in thick globulous streams. She had fallen into a bog, perhaps, there in the darkness, or in her desire to find her way home had clambered unseeing through a pool of algae-covered rainwater.
    Heaven knows what may have befallen her.
    Unable to bear the thought of her sleeping through what remained of the night covered in that filth, I gently carried her downstairs. She slumbered upon the living room floor while I heated water, one pot at a time, to fill the bath. As I washed the filth from her body I gave thanks to God for returning her safely to me, adding a prayer for driving whatever it was I saw upon the hill from our midst; the terrible animal sound that chilled my soul did not sound again the remainder of the night.
    I would like to tell you my story ends there, and that with the morning the worst of these unfortunate events were behind us. Yet this was but the start of greater horrors I would have to endure. The very next night, exhausted though I was from my wife’s recent nocturnal activities, I was stirred from my slumber by the strange sounding in the darkness. Again, I found Mamie missing. The search ended only when I found her at the foot of the hill, caked in the same manner as she was previously.
    The ritual was repeated subsequent evenings. Sometimes I would sleep through and wake happily to find her next to me only to glance down and once again find her feet ruined with dirt. More often I awoke alone at night, disturbed from my restless sleep by that terrible sound. I tried locking the doors to the cottage… Mamie’s sleepwalking didn’t render her without cunning, it seemed, so when this didn’t end her wanderings, I set upon a plan of action: I would follow her.
    I finished work early at the Corley’s farm that day, and knowing of the vigil to come, napped into the early evening. Then, sufficiently rested, I went to bed as normal only this time I feigned sleep. In the oncoming darkness I waited for Mamie to leave. For what seemed like hours, I carried on my charade, nearly succumbing to actual slumber as the moon sailed high into the night sky, but as I was on the cusp of finally surrendering I sensed the motion of my wife rising in a slow deliberate movement towards the door. I waited for only a few moments before donning my coat and boots and following her out into the darkness.
    I took care to obscure myself by using the branches and wild