Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr; Susannah Harker

Author:Catherine Storr; Susannah Harker
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780754052821
Publisher: Faber Childrens
Published: 1983-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

‘Oh’ she cried in relief. ‘They’re not live people. They’re only stones.’

‘Be quiet’ Mark hissed at her. ‘I told you, I don’t know if THEY can hear as well as see.’ ‘See? How can stones see?’ ‘Look! Don’t talk, look.’

Marianne looked again. It was difficult to see much of any one of the stones because of the bars and the fence hindering her view. But as she concentrated on one of the humped squat figures with all her attention, she saw suddenly a movement. A dark oval patch, which she had taken to be a hole, disappeared, as a pale eyelid dropped slowly for a moment and then was raised again. And in the dark oval, the ball of an eye swiveled slowly towards the house and remained there, staring with a fixed unwinking gaze straight, it appeared, at Marianne herself.

She shrank away from the window and turned to Mark.

‘One of them looked right at me!’ she said.

‘I can never tell whether THEY really see me, or just pretend to,’ Mark said, in a low voice.

‘It’s horrible!’ Marianne said. She shivered suddenly. ‘Mark, I’m frightened! Do they do that all the time? Don’t they ever shut their eyes? Go to sleep?’

‘I don’t know what happens at night,’ Mark said. ‘I can’t see them in the dark, but I have a horrible sort of feeling that they can see me.’

‘Do they ever move?’

‘Only their eyes. At least, I’ve never seen anything else move. And the same ones always seem to be in the same place every time I look out.’

‘I’m frightened,’ Marianne said again. ‘I don’t like it Mark.’

‘I don’t either.’

‘Are THEY all round the house?’

‘I don’t know. I can’t see at the back, of course. They’re all across the front anyhow, and round as much of the sides as you can see from that window.’

‘I think you’re awfully brave, Mark,’ Marianne said suddenly.

‘Why on earth? I haven’t done anything about them.’

‘No. But you’ve been here all the time knowing about them, and you’ve never told me till I made you.’

‘I’m not quite sure,’ Mark said slowly, ‘if THEY were here all the time. I somehow think they weren’t, right at the beginning.’

‘When did you see them first?’

‘I’m not absolutely sure. I think it was when the fence got higher - the time the bars appeared, you know. I tell you what - that first time you came, before you got into the house, when you were outside the garden. Did you see them then?’

‘No,’ Marianne said uncomfortably.

‘Well, you couldn’t not have seen them, could you? You walked right up to the front of the house and you didn’t see anything horrible - well, like THEM, did you?’

‘No.’

‘What’s the matter?’ Mark demanded. ‘You’ve gone all queer and quiet. You needn’t be so petrified. Nothing’s happened to me yet, and I’ve been here longer than you.’

‘It’s not that. I am frightened, but this is something worse. Mark, don’t laugh at me - but I’m feeling awful about THEM. I think it’s my fault.

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