Belham read through

I've just finished the read through for Belham. And while I still need to do the blurb and (joy of joys) the synopsis, it's now that much closer to being ready for submission. To celebrate, here's a very brief sneak peep at the opening scene.

Belham - 

He was bleeding.

Had to move. Had to get up.

That was impossible. He was a chunk of solid wood stuck deep into the grass and earth and he would lie in the cooling sun until the pain ran out of his ears. Pain, hot and wet and blood.

Colin let out a weak breath and tried to lift a hand, desperate to investigate the warmth running out of his ear. Nothing moved. Nothing worked. And it wouldn’t. Not when he was just a piece of dead wood in the twilight, light pressing against his eyelids, and pain living inside his skull.

Help me.

The thought brought panic, then fear. Nobody around him. Nobody anywhere near him while he was bleeding in the long grass.

Keith.

Keith was gone. Probably long gone. Colin tried to think through the agony bolting around his head. His car. His car was close. He’d been driving. So had Keith. Chased him out of town, on to Dalry Road and out here to the middle of nowhere.

Then.

Then their fight. An actual fight. Colin tried to smile, but his mouth wouldn’t obey him. His mouth now made of jagged pieces of hard things and blood.

Teeth. Broken teeth.