AIRLOC

Two elderly London widows, Muriel and Ruby, have just arrived by coach for a seniors’ holiday break in the Scottish Highlands. They’ve never been to Scotland – or indeed out of London – before.

Although they’ve been friends since childhood, they’re contrasting characters. Ruby is the more adventurous and outgoing, while Muriel, who was reluctant to come, is more withdrawn and imaginative. On arriving at the rather sinister Fairloch Hotel, Muriel has immediate misgivings. Resting in her room, she falls asleep for a moment – or maybe not – and encounters a wisecracking angel who warns her to get out of the hotel while the going’s good. When Ruby suddenly crashes back into the room, the angel vanishes. Muriel agrees to go down and join the welcome party with Ruby, but her sense of impending doom only deepens when she meets the staff, overhears some strange conversations and encounters the angel again in a different guise. Eventually, she faints and has to be helped up to bed.

Next day, Muriel having persuaded her doubtful friend that they need to find somewhere else to stay, the pair lodge at a bed-and-breakfast establishment presided over by friendly local matriarch Ella. As the conversation develops, more is revealed about the Fairloch Hotel, its lack of engagement with the village and its gruesome wartime history. Ella mentions that she sees plenty of coachloads arrive there, but never seems to witness them leaving. The buses go away empty.

While Ella and Ruby bond over a bottle of whisky, Muriel excuses herself and goes for a walk on the beach under the moon. This time, when the angel arrives, he takes a startlingly different form. Ella realizes her vision – if that’s what he is – is something far older and more dangerous than she thought. But dangerous to whom?

There’s a reckoning coming with the forces that power the Fairloch Hotel, and by the time it’s over, Muriel will find herself utterly changed.

$10.00