Back again! Loving writing this story so I hope you like it.
Ding dong. The sound of the door bell cut through the eerie silence of Susan's house and startled the old women sat lost in her thoughts in the confines of her armchair. Pulling herself to her feet Susan made her way slowly to the door and pulled it open to reveal her daughter.
"Hi, Mum." Ella smiled cheerily as she pulled her mother into a loss hug.
"Oh, hi sweetie." Susan said returning the hug and looking down to see her adorable little granddaughter stood hugging her favourite teddy bear. "Hi Poppy. Are you going to give your old granny a hug?" She said as she bent down to the little girls height and opened her arms, which were quickly filled by the little girl.
"Can I play in the garden?" Poppy asked sweetly looking up at her grandmother.
"Of course." Susan smiled and the glint of happiness returned as she watched the girl skip happily through the house and into the garden. "So where's Oliver?" Susan asked as she watched her daughter drag two suitcases into the house.
"He's at work, he'll be here later. Shall I make us a tea?" Ella said as she closed the front door gently behind her.
"Oh don't worry dear, I'll do it." Susan smiled as she walked into the kitchen and began making tea.
"The place hasn't changed at all." Ella said looking around happily, "Although was that oak tree always there at the end of the garden?"
"Oh yes, I had the neighbours kids over to tidy up the hedge a bit and when they cut it back they found it growing right in the middle. They were going to cut it down but I rather like it."
"It does look rather unusual with that twisted trunk, beautiful in its own unique way I suppose."
"Yes quite. Fancy wanting to cut it down."
"I wonder who planted it?"
"Oh most likely my mother, she never touched that end of the garden after Peter was born because it became a little outdoor den. And I never touched it either because you used to like hiding down there. I really should have left it so Poppy could play there, but it was looking so unruly and blocking the sunlight to the other plants."
Just then Poppy came running back in holding a silver object tightly in her little hand. "Granny, look what I found." She exclaimed in her cheerful innocence.
"Oh my, what's that Poppy?" Susan said enjoying the girls cheerful excitedness.
"I think it's a really really old torch, from the olden days." She stated matter of factly as she held it up for Susan to see.
Oh no, I've left my new torch in Narnia
Edmunds voice echoed through her head as her fingers touched the cold silver metal of the object. Narnia? She questioned herself in her mind, but that was just a made up world for her adventure stories. So why did she remember Edmund talking about it.
"Mum? Mum?" Ella said trying to get Susan out of her trance.
"Edmund's torch." She muttered almost inaudibly but not quite.
"I found it under the roots of that tree, it still works, look." Poppy continued not even noticing her grandmothers trance like state.
"Why don't you go back outside and play with teddy, Poppy." Ella suggested as she took the torch from Poppy and watched her run back into the garden.
"He lost it." Susan said quietly to herself before coming back to reality and seeing Ella's concerned face, "I think I'm going to have a nap."
And leaving the table quietly she headed up to bed. It doesn't make any sense, she thought to herself, he must of lost it when we were playing in the garden. But then why would he mention Narnia? The thoughts swirled round her head as she slowly drifted off into a light sleep.
Peter just because some man in a red coat gives you a sword, doesn't make you a hero.
Her own voice echoed through her dreams along with visions of ice and wolves. She awoke with a start, her mind racing. It was just a dream she screamed in her head. But then why did it feel so real, why could she remember clinging to her brother, why could she remember the soft touch of her fur coat or the harshness of the icy air against her cheek. How could she remember this if it really was just a dream?
"Granny? Granny? Are you awake? Mummy made dinner, its ready now." The little girls soprano voice carried through the door and dragged a confused Susan back to reality.
"I'll be right there, honey." She called back and listened to Poppy's footsteps going down the stairs as she got out of bed and checked her hair in the mirror.
"Oh hello Oliver, its lovely to see you dear." She smiled at her daughters husband who was sitting at the dining table ready the paper.
"Hello Susan. Thank you for letting us stay, I still can't believe those idiot plumbers next door removed the wrong pipes.
"Well it's no trouble at all you staying here. Have they told you when the problem will be fixed."
"No, no, not yet. I expect it will be a rather long time just like everything else these days."
"Ahh well, you're more than welcome to stay here for as long as you want or need."
"Thanks Mum, that's very kind of you." Ella said as she placed a steaming hot cottage pie on the table.
They all tucked in and as they ate they spoke about small irrelevant matters such as the lovely weather they'd been having for the past couple of weeks.
The next few weeks passed rather uneventfully. Susan, Ella and Poppy went to the market a couple of times and to the park almost everyday. They even went to a funfair where Poppy insisted they all have a go at archery. Poppy and Ella were rather good at it but when Susan picked up the bow and image of her and Lucy standing in a field with targets set up 50 yards in front of them, filled her head. Without even noticing Susan had fired the arrow and hit the centre of the target.
Trust in this bow and it will not easily miss.
The words repeated in her head as she turned smiling towards Poppy who was jumping up and down cheering and smiling. As they walked away one thought ran through Susan's head. Was Narnia real?
That night when everyone was asleep, Susan had crept down to the study and found the copies of the books she had written when Ella was young. She spent all night reading them, images of this magical place flooding into her mind. She even heard a voice whispering, "Susan." But when she looked around there was no one there. Deciding she must be over tired she stood to turn off the light but instead her eye was caught be a tattered looking book she could see through the cupboard door. Ignoring her body screaming for sleep, she opened the door and pulled out the book. When she looked at the cover she saw a name scribbled in the bottom corner:
Lucy Pevensie
She took a deep breath as she opened the book to look at what was inside. She gasped suddenly, in her hands was a perfect painting of a castle she had described in stories. "But I've never seen any of Lucy's paintings before." She whispered to herself as she turned through the pages of paintings, all beautiful and all holding a striking likeliness to objects, places and people she described in her stories.
If it's all made up in my head how could Lucy have known about it? I only thought of these stories after Ella was born. Was Narnia real? The last thought spun round in her head until she couldn't bear it anymore, she stuffed the book back into the cupboards and walked as quickly as she could upstairs to her bed. She didn't hear the creaking of the old oak tree outside as the twisted trunk separated a tiny bit, causing the branches to twist and face a different direction.
Hope you enjoyed it, please leave a review. xem98x