David Priest Final Piece of Creative Writing December 2005
Slowly, between sobs, they told her the story that Tom had told them in the shed and then, when they had finished they asked her if it was true.
"Yes" She said after a long pause, "It's perfectly true."
She looked at them and realised that she hadn't helped to ease their fear she added.
"But don't worry dears, after that terrible night Mr Gaskins, your Granddad, put the beds out into the shed and got some new ones – the ones you're sleeping in now. Never again did anyone see the ghost of Mr Chambers."
She said this in a way, almost as if she were trying to convince herself of the fact and as she said it she looked around, as if she was afraid that she would see something, or someone who she didn't want to see but whom she knew would be there, watching and waiting as it had so many times in the past.
"You two girls have been sleeping in that room all the time that you've been here and you've never seen him have you?" She asked, almost as if she expected them to say they had seen something.
The girls looked at each other and after feeling a bit shocked they agreed that they hadn't seen the ghost. Tom's mum looked relieved. Just then Tom burst in! He was very wet but he also looked very pale and afraid.
"Mum!" He said, trying to catch his breath and hold his voice steady. "I've seen him, the ghost of the undertaker! He's there! In the shed! Just as you described him!"
"Now Tom, that's enough!" His mum said sternly, and then quickly glanced out of the window into the gathering darkness slightly uneasily. "Don't you think you've scared the girls enough for one day?"
"It's true mum, he was exactly like you told me he looks like - He was wearing a long black coat, black trousers, black shoes, and a very tall black hat." Tom paused as he noticed his mum turn slightly pale.
"Yes, go on." she said.
"His hair was long and black and his eyes kind of glowed." Tom continued. "And there was something else…"
"Yes? What? His mum interrupted quickly.
"Above his right eye there was a 'v-shaped' scar." finished Tom, looking up at his mum.
At this Tom's mum went very pale and she let out a slight cry.
"Are you sure about the scar Tom?" she asked quietly.
"Yes" replied Tom, becoming even more afraid now that he could see his mum was afraid of something. "Mum." Tom's voice started to waver. He tried to hold it steady. "You never told me he had a scar."
"I've never told anyone he had a scar!" said his mum quietly. "When my sister described him and didn't say anything about the scar I thought I'd imagined it and so I didn't say anything about it either. I didn't even tell my mum and dad!" Her voice faded to a whisper.
Tom stopped and looked at her. What had started out as a piece of fun to scare the girls had turned into a nightmare. In the forest Tom had told himself that he never got scared but now it was different – his mum was terrified, she had gone grey and was shaking and talking to herself quietly. His cousins were huddled together quietly crying, and somewhere, out there in the inky blackness, was the ghost.
"Mum! What are we going to do?" Tom asked, surprised at how calm his voice sounded. Inside he didn't feel calm, he felt like all the bits of spaghetti he'd had for dinner the day before had turned into snakes and were writhing around in his stomach but ever since his dad had died he had learned not to show all of his feelings.
"Run!" his mum answered. "Run to the car all of you and don't look back! Don't stop to get anything, just run!"
They looked at each other for a second and then they ran, through the hall and out of the big doors at the front of the house. Down the steps of the house they ran, into the driving rain. The towels around the girls fell but they didn't stop to pick them up, they didn't care, they just ran. On and on, into the battering wind they ran, into the scything rain, never stopping until they reached the car that was parked by the big iron gates. As they pulled away from that terrible house not knowing where they were going only that they had to get away Tom looked back. There, coming round the far corner of the house, was a pale light, dancing among the overgrown flowerbeds. He opened his mouth to scream but checked himself, he was the man of the house now, he had to be strong for Becky and Jessica and now he had to be strong for his mum as well. He turned back to his mum and said quietly,
"Mum, as we were going through the hall I looked at the calendar."
"Yes Tom, I know. So did I." his mum murmured in reply, "It's the 17th today!"
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