Again is a horror short story written by Ramsey Campbell. It was first published in the 1981 in Twilight Zone Magazine. It is frequently anthologized and considered one of his most graphic and disturbing works.
A young man named Bryant is out jogging by the British countryside when he comes across an old woman in need of help. She's locked herself out of her cottage and can't get back in, so she asks him to sneak in through the window and open the door to let her in. Seeking to be of help, Bryant agrees. Unfortunately, things are not quite so innocent and rosy as they appear.
List of tropes applying to this story:
- Ambiguously Human: What the hell the old woman is and if she's undead or just something that looks human is not revealed.
- Bittersweet Ending: More heavily on the sweet, but Bryant manages to fight off the old woman and escape. However, she's still out there and clearly a danger to whomever she meets.
- Bondage Is Bad: One sign something isn't quite right is Bryant finding creepy bondage photos of the old woman and her "husband."
- Combat Sadomasochist: Disturbingly, violence arouses the old woman. After Bryant fights her off and escapes after stabbing her with a broken bottle numerous times, she mouths "Again" to him through the window over and over. And this after she "thrusts herself upon the glass, squealing like a pig."
- Cornered Rattlesnake: Bryant is just a normal guy caught with something horrible and inhuman. But he fights like hell with his back to the metaphorical wall and even manages to escape.
- Evil Smells Bad: The inside of the cottage absolutely reeks, the first clue something is horribly wrong.
- Humanoid Abomination: The old woman looks human but is actually a fiendish, monstrous predator that may be undead.
- I Was Quite a Looker: Bryant thinks to himself the old woman must have been very beautiful when she was young.
- Lured into a Trap: After going into the cottage to find the key, Bryant sees something horribly wrong before he is confronted by the old woman. Naked and holding the supposedly lost key that she just chucks over her shoulder.
- Mood Dissonance: The story takes place in broad daylight, in the gorgeous countryside along a jogging trail. Contrast that to the sheer horror.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Bryant trying to help a nice old lady out puts him at great risk from a lascivious, undead monster.
- Not the First Victim: Bryant realizes something is horrifically wrong when he sees the body in the old woman's bed and learns he is far from the first she's lured into the cabin.
- Serial Rapist: The old woman lures in her victims to trap and violate.