The Tale of Sawney Bean (Complete Novella) by Kevin J. Kennedy Page B

everything that little bit
harder. I think everyone needs someone. A few of the girls who were
changing slowly had started coming to me in the night for sex, now
wanting there own babies and although I took no pleasure in it I
gave each of them what they needed hoping that my family would once
again grow. The new babies however were born with their skin
already pink or scaly and their eyes were different to ours,
completely black and less round. There was something about them
that made them seem like they were born for this life but I
wondered what they would be like when grown.
     
    Some days I
wondered if I should slit all their throats in their sleep and put
and end to it all but how could I? They were my family and I loved
them, no matter what we had become and I wasn’t sure I could take
my own life before seeing Isla one more time anyway, just to know
she was okay wherever she was.
     
    One morning
after waking up before everyone else I got the fire going and put
some food out for the others to have when they woke. I went walking
deeper into the caves than we had ever been before. After an hour
or so of walking I stopped for a rest and sat on a rock, I lay my
torch against another and had a drink of water. As I sat
daydreaming about what my life may have been I heard a skittering
on the roof of the cave across the other side of the large canyon.
I looked up, straining my eyes, trying my hardest to find what had
made the noise and then I seen her. Isla. I knew it was herb
straight away. I could tell by the way she tilted her head to look
at me. Her body had changed more and there was no way any normal
human being could be clinging to the rocks hanging almost upside
down the way she was but it was definitely her. We held each others
gaze for a long time and I wept, I wiped my eyes and she was gone.
I stayed where I was for a while hoping that she would come back
but she never did.
     
    I made my way
back to the cave to join what was left of my family. I know there
are less of us left now but I also feel in my heart that my girls
who have changed and left us will always be part of our family
anyway. They may be different now but we are all different. I lie
here tonight wondering what the future holds in store for my family
and I can only hope we manage to keep going on. I don’t know if we
will all die out in the caves we live in now or if in years to come
descendants of the Bean clan will live on here or somewhere else.
There is no way of knowing. I’ve done my best to keep my family
safe and provided for them like all good men should and like most
men I regret the mistakes I’ve made along the way so I will leave
it for you to judge if I was a good or a bad man but before you do
I would ask you to look deep down at yourself and the decisions you
have made along the way and ask yourself how moral you really are.
I hope this isn’t the end of my story or my family but only time
will tell.
     
    Sawney Bean
1708
     
     
    The End
     
     
    Afterword
     
    So you made it
to the end of The Tale of Sawney Bean. This was my first work of
any real length, normally sticking to writing stories under four
thousand words. As I said at the start this is a completely
fictional story based around the legend/myth of our lead character.
I had a lot of wild ideas about what would happen in this book but
it would have taken it too far away from the original tale so I had
to rein myself in. If you have made it this far I thank you and
hope you enjoyed it. I did my best. All I ask is that you share it
somewhere or leave a review. If the book is well received there
will be a few side stories to it, ranging in length from flash
fiction pieces to possibly another novella in the future.
     
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    Email me at: [email protected]