GHOSTS AND GHOULS IN THE WALLS

Sarah and Duncan had been going out for two weeks, in fact all of three dates, but who was counting, Sarah was with the most popular boy in school (Duncan was a star footballer, had a great body and was good at science) and she loved it, she was not the most beautiful or intelligent but she did have a bubbly sense of humour and a good figure, or at least she thought so, and she didn’t care what anyone else thought. She had decided to go out as a foursome with her best friend Carla and her new boyfriend Victor. They had been going out for 1 month and they had only got as far as kissing behind the bike sheds, being 15 sucked, every one telling them they were too young and that what they were doing would only lead to trouble. Only what did they mean by that, they had no idea and didn’t care.

Both of the girls had an interest in the paranormal and ghostly tales, watching things like most haunted and getting someone old to rent horror movies for them, they liked ones like fright night and house on haunted hill. When they were
Younger they used to scare everyone at brownie camp with their ghost stories, and made up personal experiences, much to the dismay of the leaders.

It was the day before Halloween a Friday night, and Sarah and Carla dragged their boyfriends all the way across town, not telling them where they were going and by the time they had got there the boys were almost to angry and feed up for words, until they saw the house, it was a big almost gothic mansion hiding away behind years of leaves and vines, there were some flowers still out, but most of the leaves were turning brown or red and crisping up into piles on the floor. The wind picked up and blew the leaves into their clothes, looking up the clouds were dark, there were no stars in the sky and they could feel cold wet drops of water on the backs of their hands. They ran up the stairs and stood at the front door, they were apprehensive about walking up into this big creepy house
They had heard stories about it and there was a feeling of someone watching them.
Apparently years ago there had been a family living there and they had heard that the
House keeper, had killed the parents and their five children and buried their bones in the
Walls just because she was having a bad day, the children were screaming and the parents were spoiling them. Of course that was just a tale to keep people nervous every time they walked past, and make their minds run away with them.
So they walked in to the large building, and stared in amazement at the huge staircase and
Balcony above their heads.
Sarah spoke first.

‘This place is freezing, dry, but freezing’
‘Yes, it is, it’s blooding freezing, when we wake up in the morning we are going to be ice
blocks. ‘(Remarked Carla)
‘This place is really spooky’ (said Victor)
‘Here, here ‘ (agreed Duncan)
They decided to split up and have a nosey around. Although all they found was cobwebs
And dust. Nearly of the rooms were still furnished, the children’s rooms were full of toys in neat rows and the kitchen still had tins and boxes of food out, the food had
Disintegrated into ash, thankfully there was know maggoty food (Sarah didn’t do maggots). But the most elegant thing in the building was the crystal chandelier above their heads, which was covered in what looked like silk but turned out to be cobwebs.
‘I reckon it’s gotten colder, and a breeze is coming from somewhere ‘ (remarked Sarah looking around at the windows and doors)
‘But the windows are boarded up ‘ (Victor said)
They all huddled together to keep warm and waited for it to go dark, Sarah had brought 2 sleeping bags with them, candles and sweets to eat. They talked for awhile until they all fell asleep.
As soon as it turned midnight they knew because the old grandfather clock chimed, their candles went out and all hell broke lose, or at least that’s what it felt like especially as
The spirits were making awful noises above their heads, which made Carla wake up first.
Her first thought was to scream, which in turn woke up the others.
The boys looked petrified and went to get up and run, Victor made a dash for the
Front door, unfortunately he wasn’t quick enough and got carried away quite literally by
One of the spirits, (a blue one that looked like a man with a wicked grin) and which promptly dropped him from the top of the banister.
Meanwhile Duncan went straight for the back door (although he wasn’t sure if it even
Had one), more ghosts intercepted him there were a women and five children
Blocking the way out. They stared him out like daggers piercing paper with their
Cold blue stare. It looked like a scene from a horror movie. By that point he promptly fainted.

Out in the main lobby the girls were hugging each other, both of them wishing for it to stop. The chandelier was swaying under the weight of a flying ghost, the candles keep going out and flicking back on, the family were getting closer to them and their supplies were up in the air. After what felt like an eternity they dared look again, and they were gone all of them, not a ghost in sight. They looked around totally bewildered, the girls grabbed everything they could carry and fled, forgetting about the boys, it was their own fault they were injured. After about an hour of running, they felt guilty and went back, Duncan was awake and angry ‘where did you two go, I’ve been awake for 10 minutes’
‘We went to get help, but couldn’t find any one, so we came back’ (said Sarah lying through her teeth).
‘How is Victor?’(Carla asked)
‘He’s alive; I think he needs help though’
‘Can’t you carry him out, and we can all get out of here’
‘ I’m not that strong, besides he might have back injuries or something, besides I thought we went past a telephone box not far away, so do me a favour and ring an ambulance’
‘I would but I have no money’
‘Oh please, don’t be stupid, emergency calls are free’
‘I’ll go’ (Carla said)
Carla went with Victor in the ambulance and Sarah and Duncan started walking home, the rain had cleared and the stars were out, in the distance they could hear children screaming and laughing. They had walked far enough away from the house to look back and see, looking out of a top floor window a woman wearing a blue dress and cape with hard black eyes, they turned and ran. Maybe if they had looked up to that window as they were walking up towards the house they would have seen her then, smiling.

PRETTY BODIES

It was a cold and wet dark night; the leaves were falling from the trees in the brisk biting wind. He was standing there in the freezing rain and the turbulent wind that was making his hair stand up on the back of his neck, and the rain was soaking him to the bone. Then he saw her, a shadow far away, walking towards his house and opening the front door. He walked closer to see what she was doing; softly he crept to his house and watched her shadow look around in the gloom of the inside living room.
As she walked in she went to turn the light on, a faded light bulb slowly ignited in the gloomy corridor., Turning a corner she saw them, it was disgusting, she walked over to see closer, three young girls, they used to be pretty they used to be her friends, Susan Barks, Emily English, and Jayne Webster, all dead and decaying. Their flesh drooped from their bodies and fell away on to the floor, their eyes are lifeless and their matt pale skin covered in dried blood.
She started to feel sick, they smelt rotten. Then she heard a noise in the background, of soggy rain boots on bare floor boards, she spun round but there was no-one there, and nowhere to hide, she flicked the light off and ducked behind the door, as the door crept open she could smell wood smoke, then she saw a man he stood there, seven foot tall, muscley build and long black hair tied back, he wore all black and was dripping wet on to the wooden floor boards.
He surveyed the room, nothing for him to see except the rotting bodies of the girls, he spun round in response to a sound coming from behind the door, he walked over in the dark slowly trying not to make a sound and almost holding his breath, reaching out his hand he grabbed at something, he pulled it, it was the girl he saw earlier, she began screaming and kicking, he panicked and grabbed at her throat he was squeezing as hard as he could, until her legs stopped kicking, her lips had turned blue and her eyes were lifeless and he dropped her to the floor, like an unhappy child would a doll he know longer liked.
He walked towards the front porch sat on the steps, put his head in his hands and wondered why him. He got to wondering why was she here , how did she know he wasn’t in, what was she doing here, what was she thinking, a girl of that age should know better than to go into a lonely dark house at night.
He took off his boots and left them at the front door to dry them out and his coat which was dripping wet he left with them.
He walked back through the open front door and into the room that she lay in, looking at her face he was reminded of the others just after he had killed them, her eyes were lifeless and glazed over and her skin was pale, her blue veins were popping out of her skin.
Looking through her pockets of her jacket he found a wallet containing photos of all the girls in happier times, and an ID card with her name in it, it read Caitlin Summers, and her address was in a local town not 2 miles away, there was also a photo of her in school uniform and smiling to the camera.
He started to feel guilty for they should be buried so their souls could join one another’s, so he grabbed a shovel and buried them one by one and put flowers on their graves. He stood alone outside for awhile, the rain lashing down at him and prayed he would be forgiven.
Back at the house he realised he was filthy from the muddy graves, what used to be black was now a murky brown.
He started to walk up the stairs; he turned thinking someone was watching him from outside, and quickly went to shut the front door.
After a nice hot refreshing shower he started to stare at his reflection and thought to himself, when did I go crazy? Why did I start killing people for fun? Just then he realised something terrible, he was turning into his father. He remembered when he was a little boy and his mother had left him in his fathers care to fend for themselves.
His father changed from being kind, caring, and selfless, to ruthless and selfish. His appearance changed from being smart and clean, a man of the world to a tramp, in comparison to his former self, pale and shy.
He remembered one instance, when his father had come back from his night job as a security guard at 6 in the morning, he had run down stairs to greet him, until he realised his father looked a bit worse for wear and to his bewilderment noticed, he was not pleased to see him like he normally was.
His father looked dreadful with his clothes torn, scratch marks on his face and blood on his hands. He was only eight at the time and is still a painful memory.
He shuddered even thinking about it, splashing his face with water didn’t make the memory go away although it did help to clear his head, and back to reality.
He had almost forgotten the fact that he was starving hungry and that finding some food to quench his appetite would be prudent. Looking in his kitchen didn’t fill his heart with hopes of a steak meal, or any type of animal, vegetable, or mineral. Looking on top of the cupboards he found a leaflet for a Chinese takeaway, he ordered a feast for a king.
It took time for it to arrive so he cleared up a bit and found the living room badly needed air freshener, and then the doorbell went.
He was a bit dubious about anyone getting to near as the place still stank of decaying human bodies.
“Chinese takeaway” yelled a young lad from a running motor outside, he replied with a grunt, and moved toward the door, getting in the way between the boy and the gap in the door.
“You ordered Chinese mister?”
“Yes, thanks”
He took the meal gave the lad his money and shut the door briskly, he carried the boiling hot food to the table in the kitchen and ate nearly all of it in one sitting, he hadn’t realised how hungry he was.
He started to put the boxes that were left in his empty fridge and binned the rest. Thinking about the mess in the front room he thought about time that he started to clear up the blood and mask the smell, it was strange but he had gotten used to seeing the blood, although it didn’t make it mopping it up any easier.
Now that all the girls were gone he felt lonely again, although they had been dead for a long time, he still felt their presence and it was comforting.
Before he had killed them he followed them doing just day to day things, and he had seen them happy and full of life, confident young girls with lovely long hair. His mother used to have long brown hair, he used to love playing with it and wrapping it round his fingers when she cuddled him.
He said to himself no, he wouldn’t find another girl; he had just buried the last lot. But this desire was building up inside him, to find some company.

Chapter 2

The local police were baffled as to where the missing girls were, they had talked to everyone they could think of to help them and no-one could, and now what was worse another girl had gone missing that evening, the fourth girl in the same group of friends. Now they were worried if they were going to find all friends dead together.
The police also knew that the parents would be worried sick, for their poor defenceless daughters who , according to them were caring, innocent and genuine teenagers , that they were grade a students and that they didn’t care for boys and sex, only getting good grades at school. The police of course knew different, and had talked to their friends, and boyfriends. So although the girls were caring and kind, they also smoked cannabis, and none of them were still virgins, also they drank and their homework was never on time. So much for their parents thinking they knew their daughters.
Ever since her friends had gone missing Caitlin has been trying to find them, ringing dealers and doped out friends to help, although as you can imagine a doped out friend can’t or won’t help out much, all they do is get high and eat cake. She was at a loss until one day she went over to Emily’s house and looked round her bedroom. She had done this at the others as well; so far she could find nothing to help her find her friends. She came across a key under the bed with a note attached to it, she untied it, it read Woodland house. So being nosey, and wanting her friends back, she thought of going to check out the address. She chose to go after school one day and waited until it was dark.
The house it’s self was on the outskirts of the wood, with other houses scattered round the four corners, there were bungalows in the distance puffing out smoke from the chimney tops and beams of yellow lights streaming from the windows for miles. She turned a corner and found herself in front of Woodland house, it was huge with a murky lit porch and no lights on inside.
The house loomed over her and she felt scared for her self and her friends dreading they were chained up inside this fortress.
The rain started falling and the wind picked up making the trees bay around her, she thought to herself why would her friend have a key to a place like this?, then she took a deep breath and walked towards the house, she put the key in the door, it fitted, she turned it and the door opened, it was pitch black inside, she started to walk towards the open corridor, to her left was a door slightly ajar, another doorway straight ahead of her and an old rickety staircase on her right. She turned towards the door on her left, she pushed the door open slowly and fumbled for the light switch, she found it, then she almost screamed, in front of her was her friends, she stepped back in horror staring at their mangled bodies slumped in front of her, her stomach turned to see such a sight. Their skin was rotting and peeling away the flesh from their bodies, and the foul stench of decay was in her nostrils. Their eyes were bulging and there skin was blue, their clothes had been ripped off. She also noticed finger marks around their necks, and strangely their hair was in ringlets, tight ringlets with bows to match the colour of their eyes. It was like their hair was on show like a porcelain dolls and yet their bodies were mangled into obscurity, suddenly she heard something behind her , she turned the light off quickly and hid behind the open door, she could hear footsteps on the planks of wood in the hall way and she could see a shadow between the gaps in the door coming towards the room where she was hiding, as he came closer she could hear him breathing, and the footsteps got louder and closer, she could see him in the room, then he jerked all of a sudden, a glance at the open door and walked towards it, as he got closer and closer she couldn’t stop crying quietly, waiting , she shut her eyes, then a sudden jerk and she was flying inches off the floor and his hands compressed her tiny neck, squeezing the life out of her, she tried to scream but she couldn’t, then slowly but surely, blackness. She was another dead doll, finally re-united with her friends.
Come the morning he felt better, although he still wanted or needed the company he could not forget last night. He glared at the calendar next to his bed, it was Thursday, and he thought to himself he could go and watch the children at the local school, but then thought may be it wouldn’t be such a good idea after all. The clock said 1:03 pm, that’s the third time this week that he had over slept, but he didn’t dwell on the thought.
He got up and stumbled down stairs to the kitchen, as he came down stairs the smell of the dead bodies was over powering and the whole of the ground floor was like bombs hit it despite all the cleaning he had done already.
He finished clearing up the mess and found a can of air freshener in a cupboard under the stairs and started spraying quite liberally everywhere, as he was in the front room his mind started wondering and he thought why did that young girl have a key copy of his front door, then he suddenly realised that the tag that was attached to the key had his address on it, his heart was thumping in his chest , so very quickly he searched the room, then the hallway for the tag, he relaxed to find the tag attached to the key still in the front door, such a relief, his heart had calmed down and he could breath more freely.
By the time he had finished clearing up it was 3:00 pm and the schools had just finished for the day. He decided that if he wanted more company to go down to the park, where the students hung out after school, and wait for the perfect girl, if another one did exist.

Chapter 3

Christie Edmunds was a quiet girl and she read alone most lunch times in the library where she could hide behind stacks of books so that people couldn’t see her picking at her food. She was a good student a cut above the other girls or so her mother said, her grades were constantly B’s and C’s and was regarded as a nerd. Her love of science fiction and science fact was well known and students regularly went to her for physics help.
Christie was 13 years old and her older brother was a newly recruited police officer the most recent in a long line of newbie’s, her mother was so proud.
With long brown hair, and blue eyes staring at you from behind thick framed glasses she was actually stunning, but of course her hair was always up in a bun and was always hiding behind books to care what other people thank, she also never saw the attraction with the opposite sex and ignored most boys.

The minute he saw her he knew, she was perfect, she even bared a resemblance to his mother which he found endearing. He decided to follow her and make her his new friend. He followed her all the way back to her house at the top of town with wonderful wide views of the countryside this was their back garden beautiful, Christie turned a key and opened the front door, he tried to see inside through the gaps in the net curtains but it was difficult to see much, although he did catch a glimpse of a tall lad, slim, attractive and well built, his smile also lighted up the room, suddenly he froze, he realised what he was wearing a police uniform. He ducked down under the window frame and cradled his head in his hands, he didn’t want to go to prison but he really wanted the girl, he was confused as to what to do and slowly walked back down the hill muttering to himself wondering what to do next.

He decided yes he would still try and make a new friend out of Christie what ever else happens.

Chapter 4

It was a Thursday lunch time and flocks of children were clambering to leave for lunch. He waited round the corner until he saw her on her own, head down looking miserable, a cheery face might perk her up he thought, and he liked a challenge.
Christie walked out of the gate and he followed after her waiting for an opportunity, the sun was beating down on him so he slipped off his coat and put it over his arm, a glorious day, a dog was walking close by and he used the moment and threw the dog a stick, the dog then ran for it and bounded straight for Christie, he ran up and found her stroking the dog,
“I’m terribly sorry about him; he gets a bit carried away”
“He’s a very handsome dog what’s his name?”
“I don’t know his real name but I like sky because he’s the colour of the night sky, what do you think?”
“I like sky it suits him”
“My name is Andy, Andy Kent, what’s yours?”
“I’m not sure I should tell you, my parents don’t like me talking to strangers”
“Well quite right too, maybe you could tell me next time”
“Maybe, maybe next time I could throw him the stick”
She smiled as she looked back at them, then flicking her long hair she walked away in the direction of the shops.
For a week after their first meeting they met every day and threw sticks to Sky in the park near the school, he kept suggesting taking the dog for a walk together one evening or on a weekend, and she kept saying she would think about it.
On the Friday when he asked again she said yes, he was very surprised, he thought since she knew someone in police uniform she was told of the dangers of strangers, but when she mentioned how protective her and strict her family were she said she felt like being a rebel and taking chances. She suggested Sunday in the local woods at 11 am, she figured on nice day there would be a crowd and she would feel less intimidated, and she didn’t know the woods very well to say any later in the day.
He thought this would be a fantastic idea, right past his front door and if they decided to get a spot of lunch where else better, he thought what food to get in bread, butter, cheese.
The day came, the cold breeze from outside slithered it’s way through the cracks in the window pane and woke him up with a jolt, eyes wide straight ahead, it took him a minute to wake from the dream, he shuddered at the thought of it, vague now but for some reason he couldn’t stop thinking about a Childs blue cardigan, he shrugged it off and made his way slowly to the bathroom.
Christie still sluggish at 8 in the morning got reluctantly out of bed and made her way to the kitchen for a cup of tea, to find her brother talking to her mother, they both looked rather alarmed to see her, their conversation halted immediately,
“Morning” she said yawning as she said it
“I better get back to work” and he stormed out of the room.
“Morning love, listen how about we go for a picnic out by lake today, just the 3 of us, I don’t want you to go out walking with that man and his dog in the woods, what if you get lost, or you disappear, like your friends, I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you”
“I’ll be fine mum, besides I’ll be followed remember by Steven the dozy policeman”
Her mother froze in shock,
“Why do you think that?”
“Because I heard you two talking before I walked in, Honestly mum I’m not a little girl any more you can’t wrap me in cling film and stick me in the fridge for ever you know, and besides you’ve got to let me out at some time, I’m a growing girl I need sunshine and exercise to grow up strong, you can’t deny me that, can you?”
“Of course not, I’m just worried about you, it’s my job you know, and this man could be some kind of killer he could have taken your friends, you aren’t scared?”
“No I’m not, listen if he tries anything I’ll set the dog on him, ok”.
At his house he was just finishing the last of the cleaning up from the last time, everything shiny and smelling nice he stood back to admire his handy work, nobody would ever know, now everything finished he went to get the dog.
Christie looked in the mirror at herself, she was a pretty girl with long hair to her shoulders and pale skin that burnt easily in the sun, her stone washed blue jeans fitted her like a glove and a tight knit woven jumper left nothing to the imagination, she pulled on her navy blue fleece, grabbed her keys from the side board and ran out of the house.
They met just outside the woods on the corner of holly lane , just before the woods got dense and day light was just creping through the leafy branches above them,
“Hi Sky, you look beautiful today nice thick warm coat, I envy you that”
“I’m glad you could make it Christie”
“I had to sneak out so I can’t be long, I better be back for lunch at 1” She glanced at her watch it said 11:15
“Let’s go into the woods, I know a lovely clearing where we can play with Sky”
“Ok, great” she was a little nervous but told herself it was just her imagination
They go to the clearing near his house and they played with the dog for hours, the sunshine got more abundant and she started to relax, now and again she checked her watch and he could tell she was worried, and then thought to himself food would be a good idea at his place that they had passed,
“Oh I don’t know, I’ve got to be getting back soon”
“Please Christie, look you can see my house from here and there’s nothing to worry about it’s just me, I am not going to kill you or anything like that, don’t be frightened of me”
“I’m not frightened who say’s I’m frightened, It’s just that my mother will be worried where I am, and by now she’s probably got half the local police force to look for me”
“5, 10 minutes tops, why don’t we go make some sandwiches in the house , then we can come back here and eat them then I’ll take you home how does that sound?”
“Sounds like a better plan, Thanks”
They walk into the house Christie leading, he shuts and locks the door behind them, unaware Christie notices the kitchen directly in front of them and heads straight for the food on the table. He picks up a bread knife and starts cutting a crusty white loaf into big thick slices. Christie was getting nervous, there was something about the way he was handling the knife, after they had made the sandwiches Christie made an excuse,
“Could I use your toilet please?”
“Yes of course it’s up the stairs second door on the left”
“Thanks”
As she walked up the stairs he followed her, staying back to avoid being heard, carrying the knife behind his back. Christie went into the bathroom and locked the door behind her, he went round to the side door in his bedroom and peeked inside, she was standing in the middle of the room looking round anxiously, then she tried to unlock the window, it wouldn’t move, she was starting to get scared and as she hesitated at the window he pounced from behind, he grabbed her round the waist and with the knife in his right hand slit her throat from left to right, the blood gushing out of her neck soaking her clothes right through turning them dark within seconds, she didn’t scream she couldn’t and he didn’t have to wait long for her to lose consciousness, her body slowly stopped moving and became very heavy to hold up, there was blood everywhere. It took effort to carry her body down the stairs and into the living room, all the time the dog was barking from outside, he ignored it and slumped her against the wall where the others used to be. He sighed and looked at her matt pale complexion and long dank brown hair, he ignored the knife wound he had inflicted he was used to seeing his finger marks around the neck not a great big cut. In a way he wished he hadn’t killed her, she was a sensible and brave girl, confident to, not many people talked to him, but she did, he felt guilty about it now, but he knew he couldn’t change anything now.

Chapter 5

He put the dog in a make shift kennel out the back and went up stairs to clean the bathroom, he looked out of the window and saw figures in the distance about half a dozen men in police uniform and a white tent type thing had been erected. He’d just had a bad feeling it was where he buried one of the girls, Caitlin Summers, she was the one that did have the key in her pocket, his heart skipped a beat, he panicked, if they did a house to house they would find Christies body in the living room, and he wouldn’t see day light again for the rest of his life, he ran downstairs and clambered with Christies body carrying it towards the back door and out onto the wet grass, the dog looked up and barked at him, it made him jump for a moment, then he calmed down and carried on towards an underground world war 2 bunker , he prized the latch open and threw the body down the stairs then bolted the door tightly, he took a deep breath and walked back in doors, did a quick clean up in the living room, luckily the majority of the blood was up stairs in the bathroom, just lots of air freshener was needed, then just to be on the safe side he put sedative in the dogs water bowl, in under 2 minutes he was out cold. Then the door went. He went to open the front door a guy in police uniform and a man in a suit was standing there waiting,
“Hello sir sorry to disturb you but we are investigating a death in the area and we are just doing house to house enquires, can you help us, I’m detective inspector Quinn and this is PC Edmunds”
His heart sank; it must be the brother of Christie, Shit!
“Yes certainly, please come in how can I help?”
“Do you recognise this girl?”
The detective inspector held up a photo of Caitlin Summers
“Sorry officer I can’t help you, who is she?”
“Her name is Caitlin Summers, and she’s dead”
“Oh her poor parents, can I ask how she died?”
“Sorry sir it’s confidential, we aren’t giving out that information at this time”
“The only thing we have found is a blue thread and this key and tag in your front door has a blue thread attached, it doesn’t look good Sir, You’re going to have to come with us”
“Yes certainly”
“Before we go can we confirm this address is yours and your full name?”
“This is Woodland House, Acorn Street”
“Are you the registered owner?”
“Yes, I inherited it when my parents died years ago”
“And what’s your full name please sir?”
“David Samuel Bond”
“Ok would you like to follow us please?”
“I’ll just get my coat”
He grabbed his coat from the hat stand next to the front door and followed them out.
He was silent in the back of the car as they drove him to the police station, he was scared what they would ask, and scared he would crack under pressure, he was sweating just thinking about it.
They eventually got there and they walked into the station, the bit he was dreading,
“Turn out your pockets please sir” said the grumpy desk sergeant
As the sergeant was cataloguing his belongings and taking his finger prints the detective was reading him his rights but he wasn’t listening he was in his dreaming maybe this wasn’t happening maybe he would wake up in a minute and all this had never happened,
“Mr Bond?”
“Sorry officer, what was that?”
“I was just telling you your rights sir, do you understand?”
“Yes”
“Could you sign this please sir”
He signed his name and was promptly escorted to the cells.
Meanwhile the forensics matched the fibres from the key tag to the ones from Caitlin Summers and searched his house to find blood in the bathroom but no body, puzzled they searched the woods more and found other fresh graves, after along hard day of digging the police came back to the station and finally he was escorted to a interview room after 5 hours waiting,
“Sit down please sir”
The tape was turned on,
“DI Quinn and PC Edmunds interviewing multiple murder suspect, please state your name for the tape”
“Wait a minute I thought you were just analyzing fibres?”
“We did it was positive, we also found other bodies close by we are still identifying them, but we have also been matching finger prints on Caitlin Summers, we are just waiting to hear back from the lab”
“Now then, where were you on November 15?”
“I was at home”
“All day sir?”
“Were there any witnesses?”
“Yes, my dog”
“I’m afraid that witness won’t stand sir”
“Do the names Susan Barks, Emily English, Jayne Webster sound familiar?”
The inspector produced photos of the girls all decomposing with Jayne wearing a torn up blue cardigan. Christie Edmunds was the only one missing, and he wasn’t going to say anything.
“Do you recognise any of them?”
“No, sorry I don’t recognize any of them, they don’t look well though”
“That’s because their all dead sir”
“When did you last see Christie Edmunds?”
“Sorry I don’t know her”
“Really sir because you were seen with her in the woods earlier this morning”
“I was playing with my dog and she came over she asked what my dog’s name was”
“But Christie was seen more than once with you”
“She came like clockwork once a week same time each day, she threw the ball a couple of times, she never told me her name”
“You know what, I think you are lying to us sir, I also think you murdered all these girls as well as Christie Edmunds”
David said nothing.
“For the benefit of the tape the suspect has declined to comment”
“You won’t get anything on me Inspector because I didn’t do anything”
“We’ll see about that, Interview suspended at 18:45”. The tape clicked off.
The PC escorted David back to the desk sergeant whose face grimaced at seeing him again, he was escorted back to his cell, the cell wasn’t pleased to see him, it screamed graffiti and smelt of urine and sick, David tried not to take a deep breath and coughed instead, inside the cell he felt depressed all he could think of was his house and fresh air.
When the lawyer turned up he was furious that his client was interviewed without his presence, even David could hear the commotion coming from the sergeant’s office.
Time passed and then there was a clunk click from the other side of his door and it opened in front of him was the inspector and a well suited gentleman in a navy suit and comical tie smiling at him, the guy reminded David of being young and seeing clowns at a fair ground. The man came closer and he started talking in a posh English accent.
“Hello David, I’m James Winn, your lawyer, I’ve just managed a deal to let you out until further evidence develops, ok”
“Yes, thank you”, said a stunned David, was so glad he’d got bail, but what now?
“Just sign your statement and we’ll get you out of here”, he said brandishing a piece of paper, David signed it and handed it back to the Lawyer.
David was escorted back to the grumpy desk sergeant who gave him back his belongings.
“This doesn’t mean you won’t be back, you still might”.
Once back at his own house he felt a huge sigh of relief, but a bit uneasy about the inspector’s threats and the way he might get David arrested again, one more piece of evidence and he could go away for a long time.
Now all he felt for the girls was envy, why envy, he didn’t want to die, he wanted to be set free, with no recriminations, maybe he had thought that’s what he had done, an excuse for his actions, he’d set them free of this life, he didn’t see it as murder he saw it more as helping set them free from modern day society, for once, for the first time since the beginning of this whole travesty he felt guilty, to have set them free so early in life, he had just realised that he could have waited till they were older and had more out of life before he imposed to set them free, but he couldn’t change the clock back, couldn’t change time and for some reason he could hear his fathers voice in his head for the first time in a long time saying that it would be best if he joined the girls in search of freedom, but David decided that he didn’t want to die yet so he would have to get used to prison life.

Chapter 6

There was a knock at the front door, he jumped.
At the door stood the Inspector and the young pc. Again.
“Would you mind escorting us back to the station sir?”
David was trying his best to stay calm and relaxed; really he was panicking like crazy, oh shit.
“Why?” he managed to say with a puzzled expression on his face.
“We compared hairs off your dog and the body’s of all the missing girls”
David bowed solemnly and walked to the police car waiting for him.
When they got to the station the same desk sergeant was there just looking more tired than before but still as grumpy, and he recognised David.
“Hello sir back again, you are popular”
David was dreading that cell again.
The interview room again it seemed smaller this time, and darker, it resembled a torture chamber, he tried to ignore it and focused instead on the inspector who was staring straight back at him.
“Right let’s start again shall we, its 20:50 detective inspector Quinn and pc Edmunds interview…
He gestured David to state his name for the tape
“David Bond”
“Right I’ll ask you again where were you at the times the murders took place”
“At home, I’ve told you this all before, why don’t you just let me go?”
“I would except we have acquired new evidence since we spoke last, to put you at each murder”
“All I did was set them free”
“So you did kill them then”
“I let them find freedom”
“Sounds like murder to me”
“I released them” David was getting frustrated now
“David where is Christie Edmunds”
“I honestly don’t know inspector”
“Don’t lie to me we found her blood in your bathroom”
“The DNA has just been confirmed, where is she?”
“Maybe we could deal”
“I don’t do deals with murderers even if they do believe murder is freedom”
“Please just tell us we can do you for four murders or five makes no difference to me you’ll do the same time in prison for them”
“She’s in the bunker at the back of the house” He finally said defeated by evidence
“Thank you, anything else you want to tell us while were here, why did they deserve freedom?”
“Everyone deserves freedom at some point in their lives inspector, even you, just not yet”
“Are you threatening me sir?”
“No, just saying every dies just some earlier than others”
David suddenly felt pain in his chest, pins and needles up his left arm, he clutched at his heart in pain screaming for breath, the pc hit the panic button and an ambulance was called. For David it all happened so quickly, he could just about make out some talking in the background and he could just make out some blurry images, then blackness.
Of all the evidence they had gathered up from the house the one they couldn’t understand was how Caitlin’s DNA came to be on his spare front door key, they assumed that was how she came to be killed, if she hadn’t gone looking for her friends she may not have died.
David’s body lay in the mortuary silently and ignored by most, alone, no relatives to bury him or friends to grieve, he’ll go through an automatic process of the system and be cremated like all the others before him.

A couple of days later Linda English, Emily’s mother came in and told them that Caitlin actually possessed the copy of his front door key by her mothers own hand.
She explained years ago David’s father Martin had tried to kill her and she told her story.
When Linda English was young she lived with her mother at Woodland house when the Bonds needed somewhere to live so they took possession of the house and locked up the mother and daughter in the bomb shelter at the back of the house, the police who were on the bonds tail from a robbery caught them and arrested Martin. This all happened when David was just an infant. Martin was jailed for 7 years for his crimes.
Years later David’s mother left them and Martin took over until he died of overdose later on. That’s all Linda knew, it was enough and more than they expected to hear, but the story went on, David found his father motionless on the bathroom floor surrounded by prescription drugs and alcohol, he was 15 at the time.
David was then put into the care of the system and went from family to family all the while dreaming to be free of society, to forget the nightmares of his fathers death, and most of all be reunited with his mother.

The mortuary was cold a chill in the air and a window started banging in the background, rain drops were falling onto his pillow and it had started to become light. He woke up and looked out of the window; his father was coming in the front door in his security uniform. David leapt out of bed and ran downstairs to greet his father, he looked different somehow troubled, then David saw the blood on his fathers hands and had the strangest feeling of de ja vu.

FANTASY KINGDOM

Anya drifted to sleep in her bed dreaming of dragons, witches and the odd prince or two, wishing that one day she would live to see them all.
When she awoke she felt refreshed and, ready to face the world.
Anya is a dwarf, a child; she has long brown hair, green eyes, and a passion for fighting the mysterious and fantastic.
The home world is called Leenane in the galaxy of Meath. Leenane was mostly a peaceful planet roamed by dragons and habited by fantastic figures of an old age of mysticism.
A great land with a great leader, a king of the people, king Elvadore. Elvadore is a great king but he had a tyrant side to him, and when it was unleashed it brought terror to even the bravest slayers in the kingdom.
Anya burst into her living room with a flourish and settled her family.
“Anya calm down” said her mother.
Anya s father was patiently eating his breakfast in the corner of the room, and her elder brother was drinking a cup of tea and watching the sun rising in the beautiful morning mist.
Anya felt confident and happy today, her school was on an excursion to the great castle to see the circus perform, and she had been looking forward to it for ages. Anya packed her bags and got ready for school, while her family remained motionless in the kitchen.
When she got to the meeting point with her friends and teacher everyone was very eager to get there.
As they were all striding up to the castle Anya was dragging behind, churning up the dirt as she walked. She was day dreaming thinking what it must be like. Suddenly everybody stopped in their tracks, then wondering what was going on Anya round the crowd and saw the most magnificent site, one of the best slayers in the kingdom was standing over a ten foot green dragon, with a sword in his hand dripping blood, everyone stood in amazement and horror, some were staring at the dragon and others were staring at the slayer, with his long blonde hair draping over his shoulders, magnificent blue eyes, and bulky armour that showed off his slim torso, his head hung low watching the dying dragon.
After a minute he looked up and saw the group of children staring at the dying dragon paralysed by the sight.
He smiled and spoke softly.
“I will show you to thy palace where the king awaits his children”.
They all started to walk together, and Anya raced to catch up with the knight who she so admired.
“Excuse me good sir knight, what is your name, and how did you slay thy dragon with only one sword?”
The knight laughed.
“Thy name is Velos and thy have been trained for many years to kill a dragon using only thy sword”
Anya was amazed and bewildered by the charming knight standing before her, and they walked together silently.
When they got closer to the castle it looked stunning, with huge turrets and the mote stretching round the outer walls of the castle, the castle stood lonely and proud no the top of the hill, with blue skies behind, lush green grass all around and vultures circling above their heads.
They reached the castle and all the children and teachers were weary of sharks in the mote, they were there to keep trolls at bay. Then the drawbridge opened for them to cross into the castle, Velos guided them into the magnificent grounds of the castle which was rife with activity, full of beautiful princesses and princes dancing in the sun, there was also jugglers prancing round in silly costumes, and in the corner were vultures on pergolas, and in front of them was standing the most beautiful women in the land, queen Kelos, with a main of long blond hair shining in the sunlight turning it to gold.
She came to up to greet. Anya was feeling very self conscious of her height at this particular moment with an elegant very tall person standing in front of her. She spoke.
“Hello”, she said softly and sweetly smiling as she said it,
“Welcome to my kingdom, would you like a tour?”
All students nodded their heads in anticipation. Kelos nodded towards the knights standing with her, the knights took hands of the children and guided them round the castle.

Chapter 2

Anya followed behind, she was constantly looking around her, in awe of the wonderful place, and she will remember this place forever.
The knights who were guiding them round the castle were explaining the day to day running of the place, Anya was paying no attention to them, she was more drawn to the fact that queen Kelos was walking behind them at a distance and in conversation with some guards who kept appearing and reappearing from the various doors into the castle. Anya tried to listen to what they were saying, but all she could make out was words like trolls, and drawbridge.
The students finally came upon the room they were all dreading seeing, the dungeons, the scum of Leenane confided in the same walls as they were, it filled them all with dread and they made a swift exit.
At last the students drew closer to the most important room in the castle, the throne room, where King Elvadore sat on his throne prominent on the far wall, the throne its self was covered in gold and plush red fabrics, and the king was wearing the most beautiful satins Anya had ever seen. He sat there talking to his counsel, who was an elf with red hair and wearing an outfit only a prince could afford.
After a couple of minutes the king realised the onlookers and finished his conversation, he just looked at them until queen Kelos interrupted the silence and joined the king by his side on the throne.
She spoke to him softly in his ear,
“Elvadore these are children from the school on a trip to see the circus here, they wish to ask questions my lord”
“Of course Kelos my dear” he said stroking his wife’s arm.
“What do thy children want to ask me?”
None of the students spoke until Anya braved to.
“King Elvadore how many dragons did thy have to kill to become king?”
Elvadore laughed, “A many child, do you like dragons child?”
Anya answered back “Thy would like to kill them some day sire”
King Elvadore stared hard, back at Anya as if she had said some thing wrong, Anya held back feeling nervous.
“You have ambition my child, what is your name?”
King Elvadore said trying hard to pick the voice out of the crowd.
“Kelos please escort these children around more of the castle”
Kelos got up out of her chair by the king and did what he said. She walked the castle with elegance and pose, with her knights by her side showing the students the rest of the castle. The last place in the castle to see was the battlements on the top of the castle; they showed them how to prepare the cannons if they were ever attacked. The scenery was beautiful from the top, you could see nearly the whole of the planet in all it’s glory, from the rocky mountains and darkness in the west and the lakes in the east, and green fields as far as the eye could see, stretching from the castle to the dark lands, that’s were they turn yellow then disappear all together.
Back downstairs and outside again it was hotter than Anya remembered, but everyone was enjoying themselves basking in the sunshine, Anya started to enjoy her self as well.
After awhile Anya noticed the clouds above them getting closer together and it was getting darker and darker. A thunder storm began brewing above their heads; Anya started to walk backwards toward the castle interior.
The heavens opened and everyone ran for cover into the castle walls, the vulture flew into the night sky, and all you could hear was a rumble of thunder and the rain lashing the sides of the castle walls. Then came a banging on the castle drawbridge, loud bangs that made everyone jump, the drawbridge came down with such force that even the sharks in the mote jumped ten foot into the atmosphere before plunging back down into the mote, splashing water onto the already sodden ground.
As everyone gathered under cover in the dark rain looking, waiting for something to happen, there was silence and calm in the darkness where the drawbridge once stood, there were hundreds of yellow eyes staring back at them.
Then out of the darkness they came in hoards, swarming towards them with primitive weapons. They dominated the situation, they looked very angry.
The trolls marched right up to the castle and took hostages, lots of people were taken, including the queen, and guards and knights could not fight them and they were also taken. They fought for what felt like a long time, then it was over, bodies on the ground and people missing, still the rain came down in force.
Anya was taken aback when the trolls stormed the castle, she got caught up in a crowd of trolls, they were not letting her go, she was very scared, they were ten times as big as her, and they stank.
After the battle the people that were left retreated into the throne room to discuss the plan of action, after much debate Velos spoke up.
“If anyone is going to rescue thy queen it is thee, thy will battle trolls for all of Leenane’s precious children”
“Let it be so” said the king dryly.
So after preparing for a long journey Velos packed what he needed and said goodbye to everything and everyone he knew, dreading that he would not return and walked towards the darkness.
He knew where he was going there would not be any sunshine and cool breezes, nor any grass for which he now stands upon, he sighed , knowing that his fate would be on the dark side where the jaggered rocks tower above him, the air stank and the darkness ruled. He started walking, with everyone watching from the castle.

Chapter 3

Velos got but ten miles before he could already see the mountains of doom, through where the grass came to an abrupt halt and the menacing rocks began.
Walking ever so steadily he trekked on to the beginning of the rocks before he rested. Night was drawing in, so he pitched camp in a confined space for protection. As he slept he could hear noises in the dark, rustles in the night, he huddled up and listened and watched, knowing that he would not sleep that night or any night until he was out of the dark country
After a time the sun rose and Velos felt better, for the day ahead, he picked up all his belongings , looked at the sun beaming down on him, realising that it might be the last time he would see it either for a long time or forever. He started walking again very weary that somebody or something was following him, he picked up the pace , and the noise coming from behind him got louder with very step, Velos ducked behind a rock laid a trap and waited .After a time something yelped and Velos looked out from behind his rock, it was a rock elf. Rock elves are scathing creatures that live in the steep rocks and mountains that circle the troll’s lair; they feed on the mosses covering the rocks. This one was about four foot tall (shorter than a dwarf, he had do hair, with green eyes and, had on dull lifeless clothes. Velos spoke.
“What was thy doing following thee?” Velos said angrily, griping his sword as he spoke, the rock elf coward behind some rocks and spoke softly.
“Thy was trying to warn thee, trolls up ahead, if thee values thy life follow thee”.
Velos looked at the elf for a minute than he smelt the trolls and hastily followed the elf in to the jiggered rocks towards a dark cave, where they waited until the trolls had gone past and the stench had gone. They emerged from the cave.
“Thank you for thy help rock elf”
“Thy name is Cara brave sir knight”
“Thy name is Velos, why did thy help thee?”
“No one likes to be taken by trolls, thy would be gutted from nose to feet”
“Thank you again Cara, but thy must keep going, I have people to save from underground caves”
“Thy need help, thee knows the secret way to the dungeons”
“Thank you but No I will be al right”
Velos started walking again; the elf watched him walk away towards the trolls dungeons.
In the dungeons of the underground caves at the heart of the troll’s lair the hostages were getting weary or waiting.
“I can not take it any more, surely Elvadore has sent someone to help us”, Kelos sighed,
“I fear it would take even a knight of the realm time to find us down here my lady”, a faithful old guard remarked.
Anya kept silent in a corner of the cage that was most soft and comfortable closed her eyes and dreamt of being at home in her own bed, only when she awoke the surroundings were not her bedroom.
Velos could almost see entrances to various different caverns up ahead, towering above the boulders and rocks lay black top where the air stank and the trolls were hungry.
Black top is the trolls lair surrounded by mountains, dragons, treasures and sooth Sayers who dare to lie to anyone who passed them for pleasure and pain of the individual.
Velos tramped through the boulders and rocks, the air stenches of death disease, and came upon an opening in which three old men were playing cards and arguing, and behind them were three paths to take to the maze up to the castle. Velos liked a challenge, believing that these old men were sooth Sayers, Velos approached them with caution and interrupted with a question which turned their heads.
“What is thy doing here? spying on us thy is, thy need not creep around us we are here to help thee”
“Chose a path to the maze and thy fate by choosing one of us to believe”
“What is thy name?”
“Velos Oromira” answered Velos with an air of uncertainty.
“Thy come to search for the trolls capture from the kingdom of Elvadore”
The first sooth Sayer spoke,
“Pick me from the chosen three, this path leads to the castle for which you seek your precious treasure”
“No pick thee from the three, choose this way it tells of no dangerous dragon but of the straight way to the dungeons beneath black top”, said number two.
“Or how about me this is the way to good fortune and the friends thy miss beyond the caverns deep”, said number three.
Velos was listening intensely, sitting on a boulder and propping himself up with his sword, now he was thinking, unfortunately he started to smell something unpleasant and ran into the first path until he could run no more and hid behind some boulders and waited for the stench to pass before emerging, out of breath and tired, he pitched camp for the night and slept as best he could.
Back in the maze of dungeons sleeping was the furthest thing from Anaya’s mind, every time she closed her eyes all she saw was trolls with their hairy bodies and mean glowing yellow eyes, looking at her through the darkness. Anya was frightened and scared, she wanted to be at home surrounded by her family and in her own bed, and she curled up next to the queen to get some sleep.
Velos in the night was disturbed by visions of the castle and his family in danger by horrid trolls; he missed his wife Tia and his son Egan, he hoped one day to see them again, and prayed it would be sooner rather than later.

Chapter 4

Velos awoke from a disturbed sleep not knowing whether it was day or night, for the caves for the tunnels are always dark and murky. He found his bearings and stumbled on through unlit tunnels towards the maze. He came to a massive clearing where in the centre was a giant dragon bigger than any he had seen before, it was guarding the wealth of the underground gold, emeralds, and diamonds a spectacular crest of treasure. The dragon was sleeping.
Siltha was one of the only red dragons left on Leenane, with his yellow spiked crest, dank blue eyes, and fearsome teeth and a massive temper.
Siltha had been guarding the treasure since before the dawn of time when trolls were not fully descended from humans and the king and queen were at war with each other, there was no sun on the land and desert stretched as far as the eye could see, all that land and it was divided into two parts king and queen and no one got between them.
Velos stood back and contemplated what to do next, should he go round or go back towards the sooth Sayers, as the dragon stirred in it’s sleep it made Velos weary , Velos decided to run back towards the sooth Sayers, flying past them and taking the third exit hoping it would lead to the underground dungeons, they did. He came across the queen and the rest of the company, Anya was never co happy to see anyone before, she beamed to see Velos, he winked back, she felt a blush coming over her. The queen spoke.
“Velos, thy am so glad to see thee”
“Come with thee quickly I will show thy way out”
He grabbed the queen’s hand and ran as fats as he could out of the maze of boulders and towards the sunlight, when they had reached the border the brightness hit them with such force that their vision went blurred temporarily. Velos looked back to see some very angry trolls trudging towards them at an alarming rate.
“Head for the castle, close the drawbridge, thy will hold them off”
Anya wanted to stay and watch but her hand was pulled away by a prince and they ran toward the castle.
When they got inside the castle barracks the drawbridge closed with a bang and they watched from the top of the tower in amazement at the sight before them.
Velos was confused the trolls had straightened in a line in front of him, although they would not attack. Then he could see what was walking up behind them.
The man beast, in front of him was a giant troll with sharp teeth, a great big hairy monster, and his back stiffened and he admitted to being quite bewildered at this monstrosity and he was scared.
By the side of the beast was a man in normal clothes and with white hair and glasses, Velos recognised the old man , then remembered he was a king of old Leenane century’s ago before trolls terrorised the countryside.
The beast’s voice boomed over the green grassy rolling hills, it vibrated the earth beneath him, enough to knock him off his feet.
“Thy dare to disturb thy sleep, do thee wish to die?”
The beast boomed showing it’s teeth.
Velos reached for his sword
“Thy was only saving thy friends from trolls torture”
“Prepare to die”
Velos quivered behind his shield with his sword held high.
The beast picked Velos up in it’s hands and drew him closer.
By now Velos was feeling empowered and the closer he got the more he wanted to kill the beast, the stabbed the beast in the eye, it groaned in pain and dropped Velos to the ground, it was angry now.
Velos got up and ran around to the back of the creature and climbed up it’s back, now standing on the top of it’s head. The beats just stood still for a while.
Velos raised his sword and promptly hacked off a section of the top if it’s head and stuck his sword into something he didn’t expect to find, wires, electronics, and computer chips, Velos was puzzled but he stuck his sword in anyway and the beast just slumped down and fell on to it’s front making the earth shake.
The old man with glasses ran back toward the rocky paths to black top never to be seen again, and the trolls followed him.
As Velos looked up, the inhabitants of the castle had run down the hill to see what was happening, and they all stood around the beats.
King Elvadore spoke first,
“Can thee explain Velos?”
“Thy can not your majesty”
“Can thy explain why King Pearls was standing with thy creature?”
Velos asked back and waited for a reply.
“He was captured by trolls more than a hundred years ago, we never saw him again, and thy thought he was dead, surely”
They started walking back up to the castle, night was drawing in.
In the morning the beast had disappeared from the ground on which it had laid the day before.
King Elvadore had a welcome home party for all those in his kingdom. Anya was glad to be back amongst the warm sun and laughter, and breath fresh air.
The party was a triumph, although Velos noticed Anya standing in the corner of the room clutching a goblet to her chest.
“Care for a dance my lady”
Velos said sincerely and softly.
Anya felt hopelessly nervous, but replied to the gesture.
“Thank you good sir knight, thy would be honoured”.
They took the dance floor and danced until the sun set and the world had gone to sleep.

The Silver Lake

In the year 2222 the world is a happy caring place people are polite, caring and kind. Most people are unselfish and considerate; unfortunately there is one exception, the king. He sits and lords over his people with nothing but contempt. In general he is for lack of a better word, miserable. His appearance is not pleasing with a long drawn haggard face, sunken eyes and long grey dishevelled hair. He is in no way desirable, and wears robes 2 sizes too big for him so he can feel slim (even though he is not).
As an example of the man he is, last year he tried to raise taxes for women to have babies, the women were outraged and promptly protested by striking at the kings pride and joy, the treasury. Although the women were powerful enough to stop him he couldn’t work how anyone in their right mind would strike outside that building and not want to see any of the royal treasures on display. To cut along story short the people won and were thrilled at the prospect that they didn’t have to pay the tax, due to the king going down his beloved treasures on the third day and not being able to get any where near them, so gave in and decided to abolish the tax.
The town’s people found the treasury was the place to strike if ever they wanted anything, flattery and shiny things would get you anything from the king, although some have more luck than others depending on their looks or ambition. The other thing the king loved was food, and the chefs in the castle were particularly good at it, that even the king didn’t like them tasting it, he didn’t bother with royal tasters and just decided if he did die of poisoning at least he would die happy eating something nice.

Chapter 2

The local town surrounding castle is known as Byway, a peaceful town with lots of stalls as part of a market that on most days stretched the length of the town, it was always full with happy families and general enjoyment. The king never went in to the town preferring to watch them from a window in the castle, he sometimes wished he could join them and be involved in the families that he stared at for ages. The one thing he remembered his father saying when he was a child was to have an heir, unfortunately the opportunity just never arose. Sometimes he was sadden by this, then other times he would see couple fight over the little things and be glad he that he wasn’t in a relationship.

Then one day a lady rode through town, a beautiful woman shrouding herself with a black hood and cloak riding alone on a black steed.
The whole village noticed this mysterious woman’s presence. She never spoke; she just rode through without saying a word about once a month. No-one knew who she was, where she was going or where she came from.
The king had noticed this woman from his castle and asked his servants who she was, but no-one knew.
There was someone else who had noticed this strange woman; it was a knight of the court called Sir Larine. He was a colourful character with brown messy hair and a brown short beard, loved laughter, wine and women (much like men today).
So a few months later the woman dressed in black returned to ride through the village, Larine rode next to her;
“My lady is without company; permit me to ride with thee”
She did not reply. Larine continued to ride with her in silence. Within a few miles of following the woman they rode down a track which is normally not trodden. A bird’s song drifting from the nearby trees floating on the breeze was different to the others. The bird was singing a warning to all that past this road or meet a stranger along it.
“Come this way join us in glory, and enjoy the woodland road, for darkness you will find if you look into a stranger’s eye”
Larine half heard the unusual song but was more intrigued by which path the woman was travelling. Following the woman Sir Larine battled through trees, hedgerow and the darkness for miles on end, eventually she came to a stop at the borders of a lake of dark water, and without stopping rode straight into it and vanished under the water. Taken aback Larine camped on the shore overnight and waited, hoping to see the woman again.
During the night a deer came by while Larine was still awake staring at the lake and nuzzled up against him, the deer whispered into the dark night air;
“Turn back, run, the dark woman is ever watchful”
“But I cannot, she is mesmerising, I have followed her a great distance I can not turn back now”
“Yes thee can, at the stroke of sunrise the lake will shine so bright as to blind thee, then she will take you into the lake, I have seen it, no man can resist, no man ever comes back”
“Then I shall shut my eyes”
“No thee will not, you will succumb to the light, I have pity for thee”
At that the deer trotted away back into the dark forest.
Larine did not heed the warning of the deer and at the sight of the sunrise he opened his eyes towards the lake and saw a beautiful vision arising from the middle of the lake, a perfectly white woman on a white horse, the lake was as bright as polished silver and as still as the ground. She rode towards him seemingly in slow motion and spoke ever so softly;
“Come join me, come join me where you are bathed in silver, and the sun shines on you always, come in, come gaze into my eyes”
At that she advanced closer and stared Larine in the eyes, he suddenly froze, all he could see was black and his eyes had glazed over. She advanced close to him, she had turned into the black cloaked woman from the night before with piercing bright silver eyes fixated on his lifeless black ones, and led him into the water from where no man returns.

Chapter 3

Days passed and his brother Sole curious to where Larine had gone followed his trail, along the way he too heard the birds warning song but like his brother took no heed to the words they sung and followed the path to the lake.
He waited till dawn to see of his brother would make his presence known. Sole did not notice the deer watching him from the gloom of the forest edge.
Larine did not show himself, but as the sun rose a magical woman arose from the lake, she tempted Sole to join her, he couldn’t resist and was taken by the black lady with silver eyes under the silver surface of the lake screaming like so many before him.
More days passed and the youngest brother Peta went in search of his brothers, he followed the same path and heard the birds warning; “Come this way join us in glory, and enjoy the woodland road, for Darkness you will find if you into a strangers eye”
Peta found him self interested about the nature of the strangers eye and asked the birds;
“Excuse thee, but what stranger are thee singing about”
“The stranger in black that lives in the lake, at dawn she comes”
Peta pondered for a moment and asked again.
“Have thy seen two men come this way in days past?”
“Yes one followed thy stranger and another passed but five days hence”
Peta gestured appreciation, “If thy need help just whistle a chorus”
Peta thanked them and carried on towards the lake.
Soon after he had reached the lake, it was close to night fall so he waited. A deer walked up to him and started to recite something that Peta had not heard before; “when night falls all quiet, no noise will filter the blackness, till morning arises and the silver lady takes flight”
“I have never heard that before, who is the silver lady?”
“She is the death of many men who dare to stare her in the eye”
“Have many tried?”
“All try not to but cannot resist, they say she was cursed, and only the death of the enchanter will save her, look through her eyes into her soul, but be warned only a true hero will overcome evil”
“I am not here to stare into the eyes of the silver lady, nor is to try and save her; all I want is my brothers”
“Is there is any way I can save my brothers?”
“Look for them in the lake, the faces will help”
The deer trotted off and Peta got up to look into the water and saw them, hundreds of faces of men, all screaming with empty sound, all clawing at the lake’s surface as if it was glass, their black eyes unable to see the stars in the night sky above them, their skin was a dull white and lips as blue as a clear day sky.
Peta saw both of his brothers near the edge of the lake and raced up to see the same horrid fate had been put upon them. He tried to pierce the lake to save them, but the surface was like hard glass, yet from a distance it looked like lapping water on a grassy shore.
Peta looked around him, the animals of the forest were watching him from the dark, “Please help thee, thy brothers need thee” Peta said in desperation.
The animals did not move from the forest edge, although a squirrel spoke softly, it required effort to hear the words.
“To break the spell to save the men, attract the silver lady out of the water and into the forest, for then she must answer before the lights fade the question to ask her, what is her name?”
“How do thy do that without looking into her eyes?”
“Gaze upon thy feet for she will see thy as a cripple and will answer the question”
“Thank you for the wisdom dear friends”
With that he bowed at them and the animals blended back into the deep dark forest. Tiredness came over him and he drifted to sleep on the soft grass at the lakes edge.

Chapter 4

He awoke just before the light of day and walked to the edge of the forest, watching the surface of the lake from a distance, then before him light engulfed the hard surface and glistened on the grass. Peta started to feel nervous but he kept telling himself not to look up, don’t look up, don’t look up, but the urge was so great that he did and her gaze was so powerful, Peta knew that he didn’t want to end up like his brothers and promptly shut his eyes but it was too late his vision had gone black, then the thought came to him to whistle a tune and as he did so all of the birds of the forest came to his rescue and surrounded the woman who had now turned black, she fought off the birds and fled back into the lake.
Peta thanked the birds for their help and started thinking up a plan to try again the next morning.
During the day Peta went to look at the faces in the water for his brothers were only able to fight the surface and unable to hear their brothers’ words.
The next morning Peta was ready and waiting at the edge of the forest looking towards the lake, this time he was calm. He stared upon the grass so intently he counted every strand he saw. He could hear her coming closer and the songs she sung to lure men to their deaths were getting louder; he ignored them pushing them out of his head all the while staring at the grass. He then turned and walked into the forest, he could hear her feet padding on the grass, leaves and twigs rustled behind him. She was curious as to who this strange man was how and why he could avert his gaze and not fall to her powers, and although she didn’t entirely trust him she still followed him deeper in to the woods. He walked the path deep into the forest and stopped in a clearing, all he could hear was the wind in the trees and she had obviously stopped some where behind him no footsteps could be heard. He relaxed a bit took a deep breath and asked the question,
“Thy have a simple question, what is thy name?”
The Lady didn’t speak straight away, surprised at the question.
“Thy name is Tulip Baron, what is yours?”
“Peta is thy name”
“Please tell me, why do thee enchant men into the lake?”
“Thy have been under a spell that only one can undo”
“Who are thy afraid of?”
“The witch that put a curse on thee, Lady Arista a very powerful one she is too”
“She lives on the other side of the lake, it is hers and so am I”
“She has a treasure lying at the bottom of the lake, I am one of its protectors, and the men are the other”
“Can she be stopped?”
“Only by one brave enough to dive under the surface and find her only 2 silver coins, place them upon her eyes thus breaking the curse and undoing all the magic she has done”
“Has anyone tried before?”
“Only my father, but he failed”
“What must I do?”
“Thy must wait for when thy leave at sunrise, the lake shall be water only for a few moments, although long enough to dive under and start searching, when thy have them swim to the opposite shore and there will be a tunnel, follow it, after that the rock will guide you”
“But how shall I breathe under water for so long?”
“The animals will help”
With that Tulip pulled her hood above her black hair and turned towards the edge of the forest and walked away, not looking back.
Some where above him an owl hooted on a dark branch, Peta looked up to the sky,
“Thy are looking for help in breaking the witches curse?”
“Yes, can thy help?”
“You need to find a plant known as a water vine, they hang on the south edges of the forest, eat it, it will help you to breath under water”
“Thank you”
Then off Peta went, he walked the length of the forest to the south border and found the vine he desired and walked a little way back to wait till the time was right.
The next morning came and Tulip rode her horse out of the lake as expected, he did not meet her stare and gulped down the water vine he had in his hand, and as her horse touched the grass he threw himself into the lake and started swimming down into the depths passing all of blind men clawing at the surface.
On and on he swam and as he looked back he could see his legs had disappeared and there was a grey tail instead slightly unnerved him as he swam on. Ahead of him he could see shimmering gold and jewels glowing, sparkling between the gaps of emeralds, ruby’s, sapphire and crystal.
Peta had to stare for moment at this feast on the lake bed.
Then something caught his attention, out of the corner of his eye something was coming towards him, he focused and immediately swam in the other direction.
It was a whale dragon, it had a forked tail, fierce some eyes, a shimmering scaled under belly and not one but 4 fins on it’s back. It is said that they can also blow purple flame to cook anything that crosses its path, and create cyclones under the water to crush any fish or person down on to the lake bed. Peta did not feel that he wanted to test the theories and fled to look somewhere else for the coins.
This particular whale dragon was known as Jewel, a female whale dragon that had been living this lake for a long time and was now one of the last of her kind. She just swam in circles protecting her treasure that had appeared over time and that she had claimed for her self.
Occasionally she would look up at the men clawing at the surface and wonder how much happier she would be when the curse is lifted and she could enjoy a flight to stretch her scaly wings. Jewel would however miss her only friend Tulip, they conversed happily together she may not speak human but then again Tulip wasn’t altogether human herself due to the curse (also it’s very difficult to talk underwater anyway). In fact most of the time she watched as Tulip slept on a bed of jewels curled up in a ball, where Jewel could watch upon her fondly.

Chapter 5

Peta had swam a good way a way from where she prowled, her scales glistening like the jewels confused him occasionally but then he saw her eyes and look away. His efforts to find these silver coins felt fruitless, like finding a needle in a hay stack. After what felt like ages his eyes fixed upon a single silver coin amongst a pile of ruby’s, he sighed heavily and pocketed the coin, he then suddenly realised he had been down here along time, as he could only see by sparkles and the light had grown thin, but just by chance he looked away from the mass of jewels in front of him, he saw her, she was right in front of him, her eyes were ruby red and glowed bright, her fins were tall and sharp, and the expression on her face was one of anger and confusion, Peta was fixated, he couldn’t move, he just stared into the creatures face, then seeing something he didn’t expect, a tear, falling from one of her big glassy eyes and he felt sorry for her.
Jewel had not seen a man with a tail before, or one that was not close to the surface, she could see he was different and not stealing any jewels of any importance, none of the shiny coloured ones she liked, she looked down then swam backwards into the darkness with only her eyes shining out of the dark, watching him.
Peta totally bewildered by this did nothing for a moment, and then he turned, aware that she was watching and kept searching until finally he found it. The lake was pitch black and looking up the sky looked like the ocean bed, full of sparkles and a prominent full moon hung over his head. He pocketed the silver coin aware that his actions were no longer being watched and swam up towards the surface, past all the sightless men and headed towards the opposite shore looking for the tunnel. He swam for ever it seemed to no avail. Peta pulled himself out of the water for a moment, he was cold and shivering, he was tired and his clothes had stuck to him. Reluctantly he went to put his head back into the water and realised it had sealed again, hard as glass and his own reflection looked back at him in the light of the moon, now realising he couldn’t go back in until she rode at dawn he rested on the bank and shut his eyes till morning. Tulip had come back late from her ride, she liked getting out of the water and taking deep breaths of fresh air before descending back in to the Luke warm water, her horse Drake was always willing to take her as far as he could without tiredness. She dreamt of the day she wouldn’t have to go anywhere near this lake and to be reunited with her father.

Morning came, the sun shone warmly over the lake and she hurried over the lake with ease and grace. He awoke as soon as he felt the sun on his back he gulped down more water vine that he had in his pocket and dived back under into the cold water, it awoke his senses immediately and with fresh warm light streaming in through the surface he went about searching for the tunnel entrance.
At last he found some unusual markings in the soil bank, he didn’t recognise them, they were in a large ring big enough for a person to swim through, he had found it, relief and anxiety filled him, relief that he had finally found his way, but anxiety about what lied ahead. It took him a moments to work out what the words said, after a while they started to make sense, although reading backwards was hardly easy, he found it read, To Enter You Must Press Upon The Centre But Be Warned You Bring Tidings With Men With Whom Beauty Chose.
Although slightly worried what it meant he took a deep breath and pressed in the centre of the ring, but as soon as he did so something behind him made the water ripple, he looked back briefly and saw hundreds of them, men with black sightless eyes rapidly swimming towards him, panicking he kept pressing and pushing at the centre of the ring as hard as he could, he could feel hands grabbing him around his ankles and feet pulling him down, he struggled kicking and lashing out, they kept pulling him, down and down, until they reached the lake bed where the treasure lay and Jewel was watching from afar. The men were trying to bury Peta under the weight of jewels until suddenly Jewel sprang into action, although not to save Peta but her precious treasure, she blew perfect purple fire in their direction and they fled, some fell and their bodies lay lifeless on the dusty lake bed with steam rising from their bodies and their clothes burnt. Peta regained his composer after trying to be stuffed with rubies thanked her and swam back up to the tunnel entrance. When he got there he found that the entrance had sealed it’s self again, so painfully he started to kick and punch through the hole again, with all his weight behind him, he could sense the men getting closer again, he could hear them coming, swiftly swimming against the current towards him, then purely by chance why’ll kicking he hit the word centre there came a whooshing noise, everything around him went still then as though a plug had been pulled out he was sucked into the tunnel, like water escaping down the drain, the water swirled around him and he kept bumping into the sides of the tunnel, he could feel the bruises already, then the water seemed to be going up hill and could see day light at the end, whoosh, up through the hole and thrown to the ground, finally he could breath, no more water, his bruises thumped through his temples and he feel into unconsciousness. When he awoke a voice called out to him from a nearby rock, dazed and stunned he walked towards it starting to realise the rock had a face “I haven’t seen a person on this side of the lake for centuries”
Peta smiled at the deep tones of the rocks voice.
“Thy name is Peta, I have come to save thy brothers who are trapped in the lake, Thy have to break a curse on a beautiful lady to get them back, could thee tell thee where to find the witches house?”
“I don’t know about that, she is dangerous and her gnomes attack people”
“Please help me, Thy have done many tasks get this far, and swam great leagues”
“Tasks did you say, well maybe I can help, I know how dangerous they are having tried them myself along time ago”
“Thy have the coins to undo what she has done, please”
“Very well, turn south from this spot and walk 2 miles straight and you’ll find her in her house down a valley, but be warned, you must sing to put the gnomes asleep the moment you see them, by the time you are in the garden both the gnomes and the witch will be asleep, good luck son”
He thanked the rock and turned to the south. He quickly started walking through field and dale not pausing, thinking how good it would be to see his brothers again. As he slowed his walking speed he came upon a woodland, but not a plush one with leaves on the trees and birds singing, but a dead one, where the trees have grown up to the sky and the branches are thick with brown moss and bruised trunks, under his feet the earth was all dark and hard, nothing grows here, not even a weed, starting to feel claustrophobic he walked faster until he was almost running, but the forest went on. He stopped to catch a breath and had a strong uneasy feeling that he was being watched, he looked all around him but there was nothing, then looking down the ground bubbled around him and his feet started to sink into the soil, he started running again and could just about see light out of the end of the forest, his speed picked up and with his last efforts with a hop, skip and a jump he landed on the grass. Looking back he could see the path was moving ever slightly, like sand as the tide was coming in, but the trees still great and haunting, and quiet.
Out of breath but still alive he surveyed his new surroundings hoping there wasn’t something nasty waiting for him, thankfully there wasn’t. He could just make out some grey smoke coming from the next valley, he followed the smoke and from a distance saw a thatched house with a big garden, and there were lots of small ugly looking gnomes playing with a bat and ball, they weren’t a very good aim and kept hitting each other with the bat, one hit the ball so hard it went through a window on the side of the house, a women came outside and the gnomes tried to stand to attention, although they kept pushing each other over, Peta was enjoying this it put a smile on his face, for the first time in days. The women got very angry with the gnomes and hit one of them across the head with her hand and went back inside. Peta decided he had to move, he couldn’t stay hiding and he had to complete his mission, he started singing a song his mother had taught him when he was young, and then started walking toward the house, his voice growing with confidence as he got closer, the gnomes turned to see him approach, he wanted to run, but he kept walking towards the gate, opened it and went forwards. He kept singing until he was right up against the front door, looking around the garden all the gnomes had curled up into statue positions and were snoring loudly. He quietly pushed the door open, inside it was one room, it was dark and smelt of overpowering herbs and spices, an overgrown kitchen to his left and a cauldron including an open book in front of him, to his right was a bed up against the wall. The witch was wearing a stained apron over her faded brown dress and had mad curly blonde hair, he looked at her and thought may be years earlier she would have been rather pretty, but not any more. Maybe she just looked young and her eyes or her memory would prove to be older. Peta got out the coins from his pocket and placed them upon her closed eye lids, the light shone bright from the coins encasing her in a white light, Peta watched in horror as she started to age, wrinkles formed, her hair went from blonde to white then grey, her skin disappeared and her white bones and skull protruded through her clothes, her body shrank and shrivelled up, the light faded and before him lay dust under the heavy dress that was all that was left of the witch known as lady Arista. From outside he could hear voices and shouts of joy, leaving the dark interior and smells of spices behind him he stepped into the garden and closed the door behind him. There were men all around him, no gnomes just men, one came up to him “Thank you, thank you for freeing us, thy thought no-one would ever come”
“Thy name is Peta, and what is yours?”
“James Baron, thy came to release thy daughter from the witch’s evil curse”
“Thy have met your daughter, she is very beautiful”
Peta walked with James towards the waters edge to watch the most amazing site, the men from the lake flying out of the water and then landing with a thump on to land, they all looked overjoyed, hugging each other and dancing to their own tunes. From a way down the banks where Peta and James were standing two men approached, it was Sole and Larine smiling widely at their little brother,
“What took thee so long?”
“Ungrateful brother of mine, thy have endured talking animals, a lady who will only talk to thee while thy head was bowed, a whale dragon, a talking rock, quick sand in form of earth and had to sing to gnomes to enter a house to defeat a witch”
“Anything else?”
“Thy could very easily push thee back into the lake”
While the brothers bantered between each other James could only stare at the vision of his daughter coming out of the lake and drifting towards them “my daughter, thy never thought I would see thee again”
Peta and his brothers broke their discussion to see Tulip staring back at them with a radiant smile. She was smiling with so much joy, her curse was lifted and her father was waiting for her, she could not have been any happier.
“Thank you” she kissed him on the cheek, every bone in his body wanted to collapse in a heap and his lips were tingling as she stepped back.
“You are very welcome”
James and Tulip walked up and over the hill, the brothers watched them go. James hugged his daughter to his side as they walked, not knowing where they were or where they were going, just away. Once out of range Sole spoke
“Lucky rogue, why did she not kiss us?”
“Thy did not break the curse”
The brothers started walking along the bank jumping on each other and fooling around, and then Peta remembered “thy dear brothers, don’t we need to be on the other side of the lake if we want to go home, or do thee wish for another adventure?” They all laughed together. Behind them in the sky an old whale dragon was stretching her wings which for along time had been cramped under her body, she flew high to appreciate the sunset and aimed for horizon with a huge sigh of relief, and forgetting she would have to go back some day, she would miss her treasure, but not now, not this moment, this moment she would enjoy.

Chapter 6

The brothers walked along the shore, finding no way across they ended up swimming to the other bank in the warm water of the morning sunrise; they walked along the other bank laughing at each others jokes and how strange it all felt, as if it never happened. In the distance they could see Byway was getting closer and they found the Barons waiting for them. Out of the three brothers Peta was the only one to know the king’s predicament when it came to affairs of the heart as Peta was one of the guard’s of the king’s treasure, and the king would often talk to himself when polishing. Knowing that the king wanted to find love he sought to introduce Tulip to the king.
“Nice to see thee again Peta” said Tulip smiling “and thee, thank you for meeting me”
“Who is thy meeting, surely we know each other well”
“At the castle the king would like to meet a beautiful flower”
She blushed and followed them up to the castle and through the gates; the guards escorted them all towards the kings’ chamber.

Through the big oak doors the king sat in his throne looking slightly healthier than normal and it looked like his tailors had been fitting his clothes better. The king over the past few days had thought to himself that he should not begrudge people in love and had started to calm his mind and think before he judged people too harshly for their choices, and had actually started to believe in what the future my bring. Maybe love was waiting for him.
As soon as the king saw Tulip his heart fluttered and skipped a beat, this what he was waiting for a beautiful girl to smile at him, he felt younger and fitter all in within a second, he felt a smile approach his lips, and as the king smiled, a broad one directed towards Tulip, she in turn smiled back to him, he was more handsome and younger than Peta had suggested. Peta smiled as well, noticing his brother’s puzzlement on their faces and her father’s happiness, until now he never actually believed in love at first sight.

OF ELECTRONICS AND MEN

The gold stars twinkled in the vast night sky as I look up to the heavens.
Why was this happening, it never used to be like this, once a long time ago we used to live peacefully together, now, war, between anything electronical and man. What on earth went wrong?
The year is 3040 and slavery, hunger and homelessness have all vanished, and it’s all down to the Americans who although have helped to clear up the catastrophe also was a big help in starting it.
In 3000 the 3rd world war raged between America and the whole of Europe, by 3005 both sides had forgotten why they started it in the first place, until some cleaver dick in NASA reminded them.
It all started with the American president not wanting to join the rest of the world in the new world currency, and things went downhill from there, before you knew it some bombs were dropped and the war had started. By 3020 the main war had ended but resistance still fuelled, and now this, twenty years on, and the machines have taken over. The only worrying thing is that my toaster tried to kill me this morning, its bad enough that all the cars are running people over, but a toaster, the bastard tried to bite my hand off.
Also now the aliens are leaving, going back to their home planets, I don’t blame them, I wish I could go with them; back in time would be the next best thing.
My name is Leo, I’m an engineer, or I used to be, before the machines revolted and took over the factories, now there’s nothing left.
In the old days before the war everything was peaceful; nearly everybody in the world had a job they loved. The Americans gave millions of lotto money out to the third world to abolish debt, and gave the people back their homes. Back then the aim was to work together towards a better future. Bollocks. If I knew then what I know, now I would have taken a ship and got the hell away from this place.
I’m not quite sure of the reason for the electrical madness, but I think it’s got something to do with our first contact with aliens.
The aliens first arrived in 2020 just after the findings came back from Neptune. They first appeared on our radio waves, on my favourite station. I was listening to some 20th century rock music when it was interrupted by beeping noises, and then high pitched squeaking, all of a sudden this booming voice came at me, and it was loud enough to make me fall off my chair.
The voice simply said “Hello, my name is Vosper, we bring peace, and some hot lovin”.
I nearly choked on my cup of coco; I looked in my mug to see whether the lads were playing a trick on me. A new drug called Axon was very popular at the time and had strange hallucinating properties.
Apparently the president of the united states of America found out and tried to communicate with the voice, surely aliens should know better than to ask that sort of thing on the radio, imagine all the stoned out hippies in the world, I bet they thought it was an offer they couldn’t refuse.
Anyway, the aliens said they had interests in our planet and would love to visit; the president said of course they could as long as they didn’t try to kill, blow up or clone us. The aliens agreed and came to meet the president, fittingly on the white house lawn, with lots of press agents and lots of people with guns. The whole thing was broadcast all over the world including Iceland. Everyone was scared they were going to get killed either by the aliens or some nuclear atomic bomb they had concocted, but thankfully not.
Peaceful and loving is their motto, and rampant sex, with anything they could lay their hands on. Although they were funny looking creatures, they were covered in scales with a human physique, and enormous cocks, and all the women had fantastic breasts, I thought it was quite strange they had the same anatomy as us, but no one else seemed to care much, by that time in history everybody in the world had inactive sex drives. We had all discovered a substitute for sex when contraceptives ran out, so therefore everybody was interesting to talk to because no one was thinking about sex, food in most cases had taken over, and half the world was overweight, but nobody cared, it was the new philosophy, the entire world were now hippies, all illegal drugs wee now legalised and alcohol was dead cheap. Especially when nobody had to drive home from the pub any more, because of auto drive cars, and efficient trains and buses. Many people lived in nudist camps, some didn’t even bother with the camps, it’s quite alarming when somebody asks you for directions in the nude, and it puts you off including the directions.
Anyway, the aliens came quickly and colonised the world with lots of little aliens popping up, then after awhile some more alien races joined the mass orgy and before you could say Jimi Hendrix, half the galaxy came here to party on down.
The problems started with a race called Mireans, who brought with them a gift, a gift of lightning in a bottle, when a friend of mine showed me that I knew trouble would just be round the corner.
I was right. Soon all the electrical appliances started acting up, first was the televisions, radios, and washing machines, they just decided to have minds of their own, if the television didn’t like the channel it would just choose a different one of it’s own accord, and microwaves were stubborn as to what they wanted to cook, I once put in a pizza to heat up and it came out frozen solid.
They were an unusual race anyway they looked like human versions of iguanas, with scales up their backs and a five foot tail, you had to watch stepping on it though, they weren’t a pleasant race when they were angry.
They distributed this gift all over the world, they said it was harmless, just an interesting science project, well it started chaos, chaos that has now reigned the world twenty years and it’s still going.
It’s strange some cars are friendly, they flirt tooting their horns and whistling, and some cars as soon as they see you try and kill you , whether your in the road or not.

Chapter 2

I’m now standing where a beautiful hippie commune used to be, it’s now a scrap heap like most of the world. I have no idea what time it is, clocks and watches have all but disappeared, into the depths of the heaps of rusty garbage around me.
It’s certainly night time, and as I look up I can see the moon and mars, red and radiant against the black abyss above me, the moon is brilliantly white and full, I can see the city of dreams like sparkling diamonds on the surface amongst the clouds.
“Leo, get over here quickly”
“What is it?”
I look back and see Gangs of lawn mowers coming towards us from the city streets.
“Run”
“Where are we going?”
“The docks, hovercrafts, lets get out of dodge fast”
As we run I can see the docks ahead of me full of hovercrafts and boats of all shapes and sizes.
This scrawny bag of bones running with me is my best mate Vino, his name comes from the fact he is a wine buff, and can down a bottle in one.
“Get in this one quickly”
As we push a red boat in to the water I a can hear the churnings of lots of lawn mower engines getting closer and closer, we get in the boat and pelt it in to full blast and away we go at top speed until the noise dies down, and we stop the motor for a minute, exhausted we sleep till day break.
It’s strange, I can hear a really awful noise in my head, I’m not quite sure what it is, in open my eyes and realise its Vino strangling a cat, crooning to over the rainbow in a very high pitched tone.
“Jesus, I thought I’d died”
“Sorry, I was dreaming and got carried away, morning precious”
“Do we know where we are?”
“No, haven’t got a clue, we must have drifted, so what’s the plan now brains?”
“We go to the nearest French space station site, nick a ship and get the hell of the earth, what do you reckon”
“Brilliant plan, just one question, which way?” said Vino pointing in every direction.
This was going to be harder than I originally hoped.
“Well we are pointing this way, so if we turn round and go straight we should end up near land, in theory”
“Sounds better than nothing, let’s do it”
After about an hour, land came into view.
“Land ahoy” yelled Vino like a town crier.
“Am I brilliant or what!”
“Pure genius my son, pure genius”
We grounded the craft and walk for miles, dragging a wet heavy dingy, over rugged terrain. We eventually find a road, one of the old motorways leading to London and the south; all around us are burnt out cars and buses.
“What was that?”
“Nothing, it’s probably just your imagination Leo”
“That isn’t”
I say as I turn round to see a very angry rover revving up ready to ram us.
“Drop the craft, and…..”
“vrrrmm, vvrumm”
“And what?”
“……..run” cried out Vino.
We run for miles trying to avoid this psycho car, why is it we can never meet anything or anyone nice, that doesn’t want to kill us in some way.
We get to the outskirts of London and towards the nearest department store. From about 20 years ago London had over 100 departments, a new initiative to give local people jobs.
“In here quickly”
“What are we doing here I thought we were heading towards Kent”
“We need to rest, or I need to rest, plus I’m starving”
“Me too”
I see a sign for a café on the second floor.
“Look second floor”
“Look lifts”
“Are you mad, do you want to kill us “
“Stairs” we both say together.
We run up two sets of stairs and bound through a door to find a very disturbed café.
“Look food”
In front of us is a large selection of chocolate bars and crisps, if only a little out of date.
“Grab as much as you can”
“Fancy some more shopping?” Vino said pointing towards a sign saying fourth floor accessories.
Another floor another disastrous mess on the floor mainly, it had been totally ransacked.
“Rucksack, or two” Vino said holding up two different coloured rucksacks.
“One will do nicely”
“Question, how are we going to get this space ship with, our charm?”
Unfortunately all the tills were empty of pound notes, although strangely not change.

Chapter 3

All stocked up and ready to go we survey the wreckage around us, everything you could possibly buy were in pieces on the floor by rampaging people trying to grab anything they could when they fled, leaving London awash in rubbish and dead hairdryers and kettles.
From outside the building looked in worse shape than the inside, peeling paint and scroll all over the walls, I think it would be fair to say no-one has been here for awhile.
“Right then lets go, we’ve got quite a walk to the tunnel”
I sighed knowing Vino was right, but I feel I need to stay and clear up the damage, but I know it would go horribly wrong and we would end up horribly dead if we stayed.
“Ok then, which way?”
I say looking around and pointing in a million directions. I could smell nothing but burning in the air, unfortunately London’s pollution problem never got any better over the years.
“Follow the signs my friend, it should lead us back to the motorway heading south for pastures new”
“Somewhere over the rainbow…….”
Vino was singing again, as we walked away all I could think of was the goddesses in the city of angles on the moon, I keep looking up hoping they would take pity on me, save me from this world, I have to keep prompting myself that we will get there someday.
We walk for miles down the motorways and dual carriage ways; luckily no more cars want to ram us. We camp over night in wrecked cars, eating chocolate and reminiscing of the old days, we do a lot of that, it passes time and makes us feel young again.
After what feels like forever we finally reach the euro tunnel. It stretches all the way round the world, along the south of Britain, through to France, all the way through Europe and the Far East, even through America to Iceland, Azores and Ireland, then back to Britain. I remember it being amazing when they were building it when I was younger, hippies and non hippies alike from all over the world got together to make this wonderful tunnel stretching the entire planet, no country was left out, and everyone agreed it was a good step toward travel for all man kind.
Of course it all went horribly wrong when things went tits up with all electrical appliances, the cars and trains that went through the tunnel sometimes never came out or they crashed into one another and the tunnel walls couldn’t take the pressure so consequently only bits of the tunnel are still standing and not at the ocean bed.
“It looks terribly dark in there, we need to go in there don’t we?”
“Yes, well you could stay here, but you will probably get yourself killed, it’s up to you my old mate”
Vino said sounding upbeat and optimistic. I don’t like his tone when he’s nervous, he goes into a funny upbeat mood, and it can be quite irritating.
“Ok let us get this over and done with then”
I try to sound brave and bold, although I know he can see straight through me because I can him.
We walk for what seems like hours, until I hear a noise behind us.
“Um Vino, my old mate, can you hear that?”
“It sounds like a train, it’s very faint though, probably nothing to worry about”
After about an hour the noise has gotten louder.
“I can still hear it” I say yelling over the noise of a runaway train.
“I, know, me too, I’m trying to ignore it”
“What do you mean ignore it, it’s probably coming straight towards us Vino, and you want to ignore it, it’s probably after us like everything else we meet”
“No we won’t I have faith, there is nothing to fear, trust me”
Even as he said that I turn and see two lights coming straight towards us at an alarming rate, a train trudging faster and faster.
“Vino”
“Ye, what?” he says looking towards me and breathing erratically.
“Get off the bloody track NOW!!!”
As soon as we hit the platform on either side, the train zoomed past us, just missing us by a few seconds.
“Do you mind if I never trust you again, my old mate”
“Oh come on, it didn’t hit us”
“It nearly did you idiot”
“Well at least it’s gone now”
“I know what, why don’t we just stick to the platforms for the time being, ok”
“Good idea, you were always the sensible one”
We walked for miles through the dark, occasionally passing skeletons and bits of clothing on the track.
We slept very badly on the hard surface of the platforms, by now we had lost all sense of time and days.
After I don’t know how many days we see day light.
“Light ahoy” shouted Vino triumphantly
After being stuck in a tunnel for along amount of time it’s so nice to smell fresh air and see the sun light, it’s strange what you miss when you take things for granted.
After about a miles work walking towards the light the ground starts to shake beneath us.
“Can you feel that Vino?”
“Ye, I can, what the hell is it, another train?!”
Vino asked looking very puzzled, then looking up I noticed the ceiling was cracking and I was getting showered on by water.
“Earthquake, run for it”
Vino yelled in my general direction, and we ran. I have never ran so fast in my life, my heart is in my stomach and all I can think about is getting to the fresh sun lit land in front of me.
I hurl myself into the light with a big thud on the fresh green grass of France, god it feels great. Looking back at the tunnel I have suddenly realised we are now never going to see home again, it’s quite sad really. I can hear something moving….
“Leo mate I think I’ve bruised a rib, and I’ve got a splitting headache”
“I wondered where you’d gone” “I’m feeling rough to, my legs are killing me, I’ve never ran so fast in my life, but in the past week or so it’s been crazy man just crazy”
“Where the fuck are we?”
“Um, France”
“Thanks a lot Leo you’re a lot of help”
“No, I just saw a sign in the grass for Calais that’s all”
“Smart arse”

Chapter 4

As we walk towards the sign I look around, all I can see are trees, huge trees for miles around, but all stripped bare of all leaves, and nuclear power plants in the distance chugging out fumes. So much for fresh air and sunlight, looking up towards the heavens it starts to rain. In the past the only thing we liked about the rain was that it shorted all electronical appliances, but right now it is a breath of fresh air and clean water.
“I’m getting soaked here Vino, can we get some shelter, like now!”
“Right OK maybe we could run straight through the trees and find a dry patch”
“But there’s no leaves on the trees you plonker, how are we supposed to shelter there”
“ OK, you think of an idea”
“How about we head for that shack over there”
“Well what are we waiting for then”
We are running towards a shack which was probably used to be for the guards guarding the tunnel, it looks incredibly run down, wooden and sodden.
When we get there it’s deserted, there are some skeletons and lots of mess, it smells of old and dank places, nobody has been here for a long time. Although it is dry.
“Do we have to stay here, it stinks?”
“Do you have a better idea? As long as it’s dry I don’t care”
We clear some of the mess and bones from the floor and try and get comfy, and then we fall asleep.
The morning comes, the sunshine streams through the gaps between the ceiling and walls, it hits us right between the eyes, waking we look through the gapes to see blue sky, not a single cloud, and the sunshine is warm upon our faces.
“Look Vino, it’s beautiful out there”
“It is, I just wish I didn’t have to smell those nuclear fumes”
We step out of the hut and bask in the glorious sunshine before opening our eyes and seeing a nearly desolate wasteland, some trees and those chimneys that still smell.
I see a path winding between the trees far ahead,
“Vino, down there look a path”
“Why don’t try it and see where it goes”
We start walking toward the path. Looking back at the sea and the tumbled entrance to the tunnel it looks like nothing ever happened, no aliens came and brought with them maniac hysteria in a bottle. A beautiful landscape and the silver lakes on the moon shimmering in the sunlight.
Turning my sights on the road ahead I dream of the old days of hippy love and the hopefully peaceful future.
We walk for what seems like forever past yellow and brown grass which couldn’t possibly grow anything edible or other wise. Other things we past were burnt out tractors and more dead cars. I am rapidly fading from lack of food.
“Vino, are you hungry?”
“Yes starving why?”
“How about more sugar, from that garage up there”
Looking ahead at an old service station, there are desolate buildings all around and the garage is nearest. We run at it and burst in to see food, but also dead people littering the floor, and the blood trailing up the walls. Looking away form the floor there was a fully stocked cooled drinks cabinet and shelves of chocolate and crisps, we find a carrier bag and stock up. I can hear a noise of something coming towards us, I jumped as I turned round, and it was an old service robot. Service robots were introduced in garages recently to fill up the cars and take payment, they were very efficient.
This robot is just staring at me almost burning a hole in my head, giving me a headache.
Vino turned round and saw it as well, he had chocolate all round his mouth, he looked stunned and watching the robot cautiously started walking slowly towards me,
“Leo mate, how long has it been standing there?”
“Just a couple of minutes”
“I think we should be going now, what do you think?”
“That’s probably a good idea, but how, it’s blocking the door?”
“Follow me”
I follow Vino jumping over the till counter. We run through the back of the shop while the robot follows us and uses its eyes to throw laser darts, none of which get anywhere close to us. We keep running into the complex of the desolate buildings, including a mixture of different restaurants and shops. They are all empty and full of cobwebs and a limb or two, its scary what has happened here I certainly don’t fancy just being a limb.

Chapter 5

We head straight for the darkness of the hallways connecting them together; the robot meanwhile is gaining on us. On hearing a noise above our heads I look up to see a helicopter hovering above us, then a rope ladder is dropped in front of us, I grab at it and hold on for dear life as it gains altitude and flies away, I look around us in horror as I see vast devastation over the land from high above. I am not really a fan of heights so I am not paying that much attention to where we are going or looking back at the sea although Looking down I am thinking that would be a horrible way to die!.
After awhile I see a huge army base up ahead and we start to descend. Feet firmly on the ground I can relax, I feel safe, for now.
“Thanks for your help, but who are you?”
They ignored us and started to walk away, barely noticing that we were there.
“Hello, is anyone going to talk to us?”
Again no reply, then as I spoke a man came walking towards us in a French captains uniform, with a black moustache, black beret, and smoking a huge cigar.
“Bonjour my friends, how can I help?”
“Where are we and where have you all come from?”
“One question at a time, I am captain Gerard of the French army and this group of soldiers are made up of European armed forces. I have been helping them try to find survivors of the war. You gentlemen are numbers 160 and 161, we have been rehousing in quiet areas around the world, all the people we have found. Unfortunately we haven’t found many survivors, I have got a feeling you gentlemen will be the last we find for a while.”
“Thank for your help but actually we were looking for ward to borrowing a space ship and going to the moon”
“Not possible sorry gentlemen, because we do not have any”
“I would have thought the army would almost certainly have the use of a space ship?!”
“I am afraid not gentlemen. Although we can offer food and a bed””
“Thank you”
I said sheepishly looking towards a bunker behind the captain; it had an electronic stainless steal door that was locked.
Captain Gerard came across very confident and arrogant, but I suspect that it was a cover for something, although I am not sure what yet.
We follow him towards a complex of stainless steal tunnels; they looked like giant green houses.
Inside it is beautiful, luxury living as far as the eye could see. There were plush leather sofas, fake palm trees in pots, a huge bar and canteen area and a games room. The bedrooms were also beautiful, not only did they have no electrical equipment in them at all, but there were double beds in every room, and plenty of books to read.
Since the televisions started playing up we have had to find other things to amuse ourselves, the only trouble with that was that everyone thought of the same thing and reading became the favourite thing to do. In the end there were no libraries
Or book stores left un touched.
The Captain showed us our sleeping quarters and I had the best nights sleep in a very long time, so much so that the captain awoke us two days later to see if we were properly rested.
“Now you are rested my friends, maybe you could tell us what you plan to do next?!”
“Like I said we would ask for your help to get to the moon”
“I said it was not possible, we do not have the resources, anything else is possible, but not that, sorry”
We look at each other and wonder if he is hiding something.
I look into the dark night sky, it’s beautiful, with the moon shining down, lighting our way to the bunker.
“Should we be doing this, I mean we don’t even know what’s in there!”
“Relax Leo; it’s probably just a space ship they are hiding”
“Are you ready?”
“I’ll never be ready”
As we find foot holes to climb into the long narrow windows above us I feel maybe I was right, maybe there was a weapon in there, or lots of dead bodies. It is time to stop assuming the worst, I am here now, and as I look in I can see a huge silver ship, titanium plated and fuel on standby.
“WOW”
“Amazing. Ok now we are here how do we get in there?”
“You always have to spoil the atmosphere with practicality don’t you”
“Well?”
He was right; also we could be seen from here, so we better get in and out of sight fast. Then over on the far side I see a ladder coming down from the roof to the ship.
“Vino look, the ladder, all we have to do is climb up to the roof and climb down that ladder. See I told you I would think of something”
As we climb up I look down, probably not the best move as I can see we are a long way from the ground. Seeing the hatch ladder fills me with hope.
“Leo you can go first!”
“Why is it always me?”
“Because my friend you are stronger than me, and will probably be able to lift the hatch”
Unfortunately he was right, although he was my best friend; he is also very weak and feeble when it comes to lifting things.
It was strange I expected it to be locked tight, but it wasn’t, opening it was easy, it got me suspicious. As we climb down the sight below us is wonderful, at the bottom of the ladder we open the hatch of the ship and fall in to the cock pit of the craft.
“Wow, you know this is a great plan, us stealing a space ship, but I don’t know how to fly it, do you?”
“Now my dear friend have I ever let you down?”
“Well actually there was that time…”
“I can fly it Vino, don’t panic, it’s just like those hover cruise cars we used to drive, right!”
“Ok, we better get more fuel first then, just in case”
So we load the cargo hold with as much weight as we could carry safely and strapped ourselves in.
“Leo, this is probably a silly question, but how do we get out of this hanger?”
Of course I had seen the torpedo launcher button. I press it. BANG.
“Ok, you win hot shot, get us in the air”
As I go through the controls the captain and his armed forces were running towards us.
“Leo, step on it”
Whoosh, we shot forwards out of the bunker and glide along the ground until the throttle decides to kick in and we go flying, up and up into the sky, heading for the moon.
The controls have all lit up and there is so many buttons and levers in front of me, it looks very funky.
We look through the decks to see what we can find. I found something that could come in handy, a flight manual. I study it intensely, and now the flight deck doesn’t look so daunting.
“Leo, you do know which way we are going, don’t you?”
“I am trying to work it out”
“I only ask, because we seem to be going back down to earth”
“Ok”
Back in the cockpit I desperately try to over power the controls by pushing buttons and pulling levers, I stabilize the craft. Obviously reading the flight manual paid off. We are now back on course towards the moon, I press auto pilot and relax back in the galley.
“So what are we going to do when we get to the moon Leo?”
“Live like kings my friend, live like kings”
“On the moon everyone is friendly, the air is not polluted by hover cars, there is less death, and there is no manic toaster or suicidal train to chase us”
“Sounds good, but is it true?”
“I hope so, why, would you want to go back to earth if it wasn’t?”
“I suppose not. We could always go through the worm hole and explore new galaxies far away”
“We would probably get lost; do you want to spend an eternity in space?”
“No, not really”
All of a sudden alarm bells start ringing.
“What the hell is that?”
We run in to the cockpit to see a ship coming towards us.
It is a huge black ship with its name in big red letters on the side JACKAL.
“Oh fuck pirates”
“Relax; they will probably just pass us”
“Oh right, they are pirates who have a ship called Jackal and they can probably fly faster than us and have bigger guns”
“You do know that sarcasm is not your best trait”
“They are hailing us”
“Just keep calm, ok”
I press the hail button so we can talk to each other.
“We are the Jackal pirates and we would like to strip your ship of everything, including you”
“We would prefer it if you didn’t, you see this isn’t our ship”
“Who are you, identify yourselves”
“My name is Leo and my friend is called Vino, we are going to the moon”
“Not anymore you’re not, open the air lock tube, we are coming aboard”
Turning off the communicator I turn to Vino
“Now what are we going to let them board us then throw us into space?”
“Relax, I have a plan”
“We wait until they are in the tunnel, and then we disengage, close the air lock and belt. What do you think?”
“Honestly, it’s crap”
“Do you have any better ideas?”
“No”
“Well then”
The pirates call out to us when they are in the tunnel, we can see them, and they are holding big guns.
“Open up we are coming in”
“Right now disengage the tunnel”
Vino pulled a lever and I pushed some buttons, and Whoosh, we are off again. Looking behind us seeing the pirates blow up in space makes me feel guilty for them, they were just trying to survive, like we were when we stole this ship, I felt sorry for them.
Then looking ahead we see the moon. Sparkling lakes on the moon surface look like pools of melted silver and the moon is bright white against the harshness of the black sky of stars. It is much nicer seeing the moon from this angle than from down on Earth, through the pollution and clouds.
“How long will it take us to get there, Leo?”
“Well according to these instruments it will take us approximately six hours”
“Sleep sounds like a good idea, what do you think?”
“Question Leo, where, it is all hard surfaces?”
“Use your imagination”

Chapter 6

As soon as we were comfortable we fell into deep sleep.
The next thing I know is that Vino is shaking me violently, I am very dazed but I am now awake.
“Are we there already?”
“We are already docked and are awaiting to be released you lazy bugger”
“Sorry, I was having such a nice dream”
“Come on sleeping beauty, the moon awaits”
Vino helps me to my feet and the air lock door opens to show a steel structure and we walk along walk ways and down stair cases, it seems never ending, then I see light at the end of the tunnel and we run towards. The brightness is overwhelming, now I know why you are supposed to wear sunglasses on the moon.
In front of us is a window to the out side and the lakes are shining bright and reflecting off the building, it is beautiful.
The only worrying thing is that we haven’t seen a soul, the place is completely deserted.
“Leo I hate to ask but where do you think everyone is?”
“I honestly don’t know”
It is all very puzzling. We keep walking, we seem to be going round and round in circles.
“This is driving me crazy, there should be some form of life around here, and I’m getting a headache going round in circles”
“You’ve got to calm down Vino, let’s try something a little different”
Looking above our heads was a grate; I move it out of the way and climb up.
“Leo are you mad, we are already lost and you want to play James Bond”
“Look, I can smell something but I don’t know what it is or where it’s coming from, air vents should takes us straight to it, it maybe life”
I am not fooling anyone I haven’t a clue what I’m doing or where I ‘m going but there is a funny smell following it is all I can think of.
Through the many vents we crawl until I can hear someone talking.
“Vino can you that?”
“Yes I can but where is it coming from”
Turning a corner there is a grate below us and people talking, two women.
I bust my foot down and break the grate.
“Very subtle Leo”
I jump down and shock these women into speechless teenagers.
“Hello, my name is Leo and this is my friend Vino, what happened here?”
“It was them”
The lady said pointing so we both turned round and saw hundreds of lamps, small, large, old fashioned and futuristic, and all the colours of the rainbow charging towards us.
“Not again”
“Let’s run shall we”
We start running again. Meanwhile I am trying to talk to these ladies and ask what the hell was going on.
“What are your names, what is going on?”
“My name is Finn and this is my sister Marin, we missed the last ship out of here, there is no one else, we are the last, about a year ago the Mireans, they brought with them lightning in a bottle”
“Oh great now nowhere is safe, that’s why we are here to get away from them on earth”
“Now what Leo”
“Are there no ships left?”
“No none, we were left behind to leave a message outside to stop people landing, but the lights cut off our exit”
“Leo look”
Straight ahead of us is the exit to the moon.
“Quick put these on”
Finn passed us some space suits
“Hurry, it is the only safe place, they do not go outside”
We very quickly suit up and open the door. As we step out side it is beautiful the lakes are shimmering and the craters are deep, we move towards the American plaque set there in the 20th century. This is a very surreal spot to be looking close up at; due to the fact no-one has been on this spot on the moon for near to one hundred years.
“Quick we must hurry”
We let the girls do what they have to do and then we work our way back to the complex.
“How are we going to get to our ship without getting electrocuted by demented light stands?”
“We can go round the side, follow us”
We follow the ladies round the side of the complex and our ship is still there, a huge sigh of relief comes from all of us.
We walk towards the ship, and then I get a bright idea
“Vino did you notice did you find any hand weapons on the ship”
“Some old fashioned guns and grenades. Why?”
“I think we get aboard quick, then throw a couple of grenades into the tunnels, then fly away fast, what do you think?”
“Let’s do it”
We get to the ship and quietly walk in to it, then I grab three grenades pull the pin and throw them out of the hatch.
“Close the hatch quick”
It closes with a jerk and we fly away. Looking back I see the place I thought to be heaven explode and fall, so much for dreams.

Silent Running

She ran for her life, her palms were sweaty, her head and her chest was throbbing, and she was hot and sticky.
She ran past the end of the road and stopped briefly to take a breath and her bearings, she wasn’t dressed for this.
Maria was wearing a cocktail dress of monochrome black and white, and her hair which was tied back in a bun was falling out, and her red nail polish had already started to chip off, cheap sodding nail polish, her mascara had also started to run.
She surveyed the cross roads wondering which way to turn when she heard a noise coming from behind her, a rasping wheezing sound, like someone out of breath with asthma, she was too scared to turn round and ran down a side street to her left, the sound of rasping and wheezing was getting closer, and closer, she climber over a tall steel mesh fence and dared to stop and look behind her, there was no-one there, puzzled, dizzy and out of breath she backed away from the fence, she stopped as she could hear something clatter in the alley way behind her, then she could feel a breeze coming from somewhere and she froze, it was a very distinctive breeze, just blowing her hair from the back and giving her goosebumps, terrified she realised it was a warm breeze, more like something or someone was breathing really heavily behind her. Where she was standing was a few old fashioned bins with metal lids, she grabbed one slowly with her left hand, turned and swang it as hard as he could, into what she realised too late that she was swinging into empty space. The impact of hitting nothing with the very heavy lid made her topple over, and gravity took hold as she was propelled onto the concrete floor against the wall, in a very undignified manner. H er her hair was now completely out of what started out as a very tight bun, her mascara and the rest of her make-up had all but come off, all but a few smudges of mascara on her cheeks. Her dress which started out being gorgeously pressed and the colours of black and white shone brightly were now virtually one colour – grey, and now to add to the ensemble her new heels which she had been waiting 2 weeks to wear were scuffed and now one had a broken heel.
She lay there getting her breath back absolutely knackered. She thought back to the beginning of the evening, it was so full of promise, the party was lavish, some kind of charity bash she couldn’t remember which one, there was a silent auction, nice food, live music and handsome waiters, she remembered drinking apple Martini’s and flirting with a few handsome waiters handing round canapés.
The speeches were next, lots of thank you’s for all the help raising the money etc…., and congratulating the person who won the silent auction, she couldn’t remember what it was , a vague memory of a holiday to Paris maybe. Then she remembered dancing, badly to pharrells happy, and almost fell into the make shift bar by the side of the dance floor. After that she had decided to call it a night and went outside for a ciggy, she noticed that the air was cooler than earlier and she wished she had brought a jacket, she walked away from the hustle and bustle of the building towards the main road and that’s when she started to panic, the sounds of clip clopping shoes behind her, getting faster and faster, until now. Phew, Maria thought, she realised she had been lying down for awhile remembering the evenings events, she she couldn’t hear the noises any more and her back was cold against the floor and brick wall. She very ungraciously got up and straightened her dress, took her shoes off to carry, it was easer than trying to walk in them limping, and tried to straighten her long brown hair with her hands. She held her head up high and started walking, all of a sudden there was an almighty crash of bins behind her and she turned, then blackness, the last thing Maria saw was black surrounding her and the wetness she felt as she put her hand to her stomach, after seconds feeling like minutes she closed her eyes and the black was permanent.