Betsy was tired from walking so far, she wanted to give up, but she knew that it was only 5 miles to the nearest pub in a village at the top of the moor, supposedly the best view of the countryside for miles around, she decided she would reserve judgement until she saw it, only she had already seen some spectacular sights.
Betsy was on a walking holiday in the north Yorkshire moors, and camping under the stars on her own, she was actually enjoying herself, she could pitch tent where ever she felt like and indulge in some soul searching and contemplation, lots of mindfulness meditation and reading books in rain storms, quite peaceful really. she expected the walk to take about 4 days over and under dale, but due to the weather conditions she was likely to be a lot longer, she didn’t mind, being away from the bustle of modern technology was nice and refreshing.
She had been walking along time, 10 miles last time she counted. She decided to rest after puffing and panting up a very big hill, the view was beautiful, here camera phone came out again, and she sat there drinking her hot tea, when she could hear in the distance a steam train along way away. Betsy was sure there were no railway tracks around for a good 50 miles, she got out her map of the Yorkshire dales to check, she was right, there was nothing indicated on the map. She had decided not to use the sat nav on her phone she didn’t want it to use up all the battery, and instead she used a an actual paper map, her father would be proud of her, she was using his compass as-well, and binoculars to see further ahead and glance at the sky for the occasional bird of prey. Since she was in no rush to get to the pub she thought she would investigate the steam train noises that she could still hear.
Betsy followed the noises for 3 miles over rough terrain and moss covered boulders to a massive open air quarry where by the time she had got there the noise had gone, and all she could hear was the birds singing,which ones?, she was feeling disappointed in herself for not knowing what birds were, her father would know.
It was creepy here, very scooby doo, although there under the mud and dust from the quarry walls were remnants of an old rail track that looked over a hundred years old, probably more.
The night was drawing in and she was a fair way off her course to her destination, she decided to pitch camp in the quarry, as she made up the tent there were bits of wood scattered around the place, as if something had been torn apart, there was a letter on one of them, D, danger maybe, she ignored it, her imagination was running wild being out here on her own in the dark.
In the early hours of the morning the weather picked up a gale force wind and a thunderstorm loomed over head, she could hear the whirling of the wind and the rain as it was lashing down, thunder woke her up an then a sound of a steam train getting very close, she stared out to see glaring headlights of a train coming towards her at a rates of knots, she belted out of the tent to see a steam train, larger than life ploughing over her tent, it looked pale or out of focus, she could see the people in the carriages looking out at her in various states of injury, her eyes were wide and all she could do was stare back the wind and rain lashing at her pyjamas and her hair flattened by the rain, the train past and and faded from view, the noises got quieter until they had gone, she took a deep breath and picked up her tent from the mud to stand it up right and moved it a bit to the left before going back to sleep until the morning. The thunderstorm died down quickly and everything was still again and stars in the sky twinkled innocently.
Waking up full of energy at the crack of dawn, less muddy and wet she gathered her stuff and got back on her trail towards the pub, as she kept walking she could hear the train in the background, she ignored it and kept walking forwards, she checked the sodden map again she was further away than she thought, with immense effort she trundled on. A bit further on it was slowly getting dark again and a noise was following her, a snuffling and growling was coming from every bush of heather she past and she was getting slightly panicky, still a few miles to the pub. It was dark now, and the wind had picked up
it was cold and looking up the stars were out, it was stunning, she had never seen that many stars, the sky was completely clear and the moon was at its fullest, she took some photos of the night sky. Checking her focus she took some photos of some bushes and noticed they had eyes glaring at her, not wanting to be savaged she started to run, now she could hear howling coming from behind her and the thumps of running animals were apparent, she never knew she could run so fast, especially in hiking boots and she was desperately trying to avoid falling over in the dark.
She tripped over a small gorse bush, crap she thought, standing up she could feel a scratch to the back of her leg, she wish she hadn’t turned round to see, the eyes again and a claw trying to attach itself to her leg, she kicked out and ran on, the light on the outside of the pub went on as she got closer, the village behind looked dead but at least the pub was still open, she stopped running, straightened up and walked into it breathing as steadily as she could, Betsy bought a beer just before last orders and went up to bed soon after.
Waking up the next morning she felt refreshed, a shower and down to breakfast, as she was tucking in to her second bacon sandwich she couldn’t help but over hear a couple of locals talking about last night
‘did you hear it last night, it were about’
‘Ye, I did, full moon to’ said the second man
‘didn’t think it were true, I just heard the rumours’
‘You know it’s called werewolf moor for a reason don’t you?’
‘What’s in a name, what bugger would be out on moor at that time of night anyway?’
‘A daft one’
listening to them Betsy filled with horror, she had been scratched what would happen to her?, mindfulness breathing wouldn’t get her out of this problem, despite what her life coach says.

He was looking forward to his gap year. Alan was preparing for his holiday to New Zealand, last minute packing and checking his ticket. That’s Gatwick to Auckland then re fuelling at Hong Kong, 20 plus hours on an aeroplane, he will be mostly sleeping and reading, fingers crossed he doesn’t have to sit next to someone snoring.
After the usual goodbyes with his family and friends he adventured into the airport, there were flyers all around the place for a huge comic con in China, great he thought, he hoped he wouldn’t have to bump into them when in Hong Kong airport, that’s the last thing he needed, lots of people in funny costumes pushing past him.
Boarding went fine and on schedule and he got a window seat near the back, luckily the plane wasn’t busy and he didn’t have anyone sitting next to him which was a bonus for the long haul flight.
After they had left the ground he started to drift away staring out of the window, thinking of how much fun he was going to have, he already had a friend waiting for him at the other end to show him round, and they were going to drive around the country in a motor home, he was told not many people drove between islands new Zealand, they were much more laid back when it came to things like round about s and straight roads. He was looking forward to doing some semi dangerous things, sky dive, bungee jump and anything else that took their fancy, and of course the obligatory lord of the rings tours.
Alan put in his earphones and his music started, 80’s classics, as he stared out of the window while George Michael was singing faith was an unusual sight, he tried blinking a few times, it didn’t work, but he thought he saw a rocket parallel to them and something, no, someone was straddling it, Jane Fonda?, after a few seconds she and the rocket had gone, OK now was the time to ask for a drink, he knew it was early but he didn’t care, Bloody Mary please, he asked the air hostess, he had heard the noise on the aircraft would enhance the flavour.
After a respite of reading he looked out of the window again, slowly he lifted the blind to see Valcor the flying luck dragon, he wasn’t reading the never-ending story, baffled he tried to sleep it off, he pulled down the blind again and put his sleep mask on. After about half an hour he could hear what sounded like cries of pain from outside the aircraft, he tentatively lifted the blind to see what looked like a pteranodon squawking, and fighting mid air with a turkey vulture, the pteranodon was winning. Alan shook his head, took another sip of his drink and went back to sleep, after a while and a bathroom break he opened his blind again, nothing there, bliss back to normality all of a sudden a light shone straight up to the heavens through the clouds, at first he saw the hammer, then the person holding it, Thor?, he was in full uniform with the red cape, for a second they caught each others gaze and he could have sworn Thor winked at him before disappearing straight up into the clouds. That’s it Alan thought he was going crackers, headphones back on sleep mask on, no-one and nothing was waking him now.
Eventually he was shaken awake by the stewardess telling him he had arrived in Hong Kong and they had to vacate the plane while it was being refuelled. He got his bag and followed her off the plane to the departure gate where everyone else was already stretching their legs.
Having a wonder he noticed a familiar figure walking towards him with some storm troopers, Darthvader was walking towards him with 4 of them behind him, but only when he saw Dumbledor talking to Gandalf did he remember about the comic con, at one point the Rock walked past him in the corridor and got surrounded by families wanting autographs, Alan remembered that wrestle-mania was part of the comic con and went back to his book, although he would’ve liked to have gotten his autograph himself, he had seen him in a few films, he could act and was funny, but Alan decided not, bit geeky maybe?.
Back on the plane he had some food and was back listening to his play list, more 80’s tracks, looking out of the window as the Eurythmics was playing sweet dreams what looked like a load of Disney characters flew past, headed by Mary Poppins, quickly followed by tinker bell, peter pan, Wendy, Aladdin on a flying carpet and a witch on a broomstick, that’s it he thought the weirdest flight he has ever been on, something in the air, drink, plane?.
OK earphones in, sleep mask back on blind down and lights off, he drifted off to ‘here comes the rain again’ and didn’t wake up again until they were almost there, relieved and very awake he looked around, everyone else was coming too as well, lights were coming on and tray tables were going up, he tried slowly putting up the blind on the window to see the New Zealand outline and small white fluffy clouds, He was here, thank god and no more fantasies in the sky.
In the airport there were no storm troopers or wizards, it was over, Alan’s friend was there waiting for him
‘Alan over here’ a voice yelled
‘Hi mate’ Alan said as he embraced his friend Steven
‘How was the flight?’
‘Weird, very weird, every time I looked out of the window there was something flying past, at one point I could have sworn I saw Valcor and Mary Poppins’
‘Together?’
‘No you foul, separately’, ‘does it matter?’ Alan said smiling
‘Well I know that there are rumours about that long haul flight, other peoples dreams coming to life, personally I think it’s bullshit but you never know’
‘But who would dream of Barberella straddling a rocket?’
‘A horny teenager?’
They both walked off laughing together carrying Alan’s bags ready for an unforgettable holiday and yet the plane journey was unforgettable in its self.