The Ghosts of Blackbottle Rock by Martyn Beardsley

Author:Martyn Beardsley [Beardsley, Martyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-78535-616-2
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
Published: 2017-12-08T05:00:00+00:00

ten

Charlie felt the gentle warmth of the sun caressing his face, and luxuriated in the butterscotch glow playing on the lids of his closed eyes. He turned over and tried to go back to sleep, but by now he had also become conscious of the soothing but insistent rush of water on the little beach nearby, washing up and slipping back, again and again to its own timeless rhythm. It drew him into wakefulness.

A perfect summer’s morning – for a few glorious seconds. Why did that lurking feeling of dread in pit of his stomach always spoil things these days? Like storm clouds creeping across a pristine blue sky, darker thoughts crowded into his mind, and he remembered.

He had no mother any more. He was half an orphan. His dad was living with a witch. He was spending a holiday in a dead-end town. Okay, it had become more interesting of late – but scary spooks and robberies weren’t exactly what he had been looking for on this holiday. Oh, and tonight he was supposed to be actually going in search of ghosts who made hateful faces at windows.

Breakfast was an uneasy time. He had butterflies in his stomach about tonight, imagining Rosebud’s evil spirits possessing him, the way people in films were. And he had to fib to Dad and Sue about why he didn’t want to go with them on a trip to the beach at a place called Par. Dad wanted to go body-boarding and have a picnic – but Wei-Li and Mohan were coming over to plan how they were going to get in to the old cottage…

‘I’m feeling whacked. I didn’t sleep very well last night for some reason, and then the seagulls woke me up as soon as it was light. Anyway, Wei-Li and Mohan are coming across on the ferry later and I said I’d meet up with them…’

‘Seagulls? I didn’t hear them,’ Dad said.

‘Your snoring probably drowned it out,’ said Sue.

‘I don’t snore!’

‘You do!’ Charlie and Sue said virtually together. Charlie found himself grinning conspiratorially with her. He was kind of annoyed with himself. It was like giving in to her. But it felt strangely nice, too.

‘Charlie can go and see his new friends. We can do Par tomorrow if the weather holds. We could have a stroll around – and there’s still a few things I want to find out for my book anyway about the Blackbottle Rock disaster anyway.’

‘The weather isn’t going to hold according to the forecast,’ Dad said. ‘But I suppose there’ll be another chance before we leave.’

Charlie could tell Dad was trying hard to hide how disappointed he was at not doing a family thing together, and he suddenly felt guilty and dishonest. But then, if Dad only knew how important this was he would understand.

‘There’s something odd about it, you know,’ said Sue half to herself, chewing on a piece of toast.

‘Odd about what?’ Dad asked.

‘This Blackbottle Rock business.’

Charlie tried to hide his sudden extra interest.

‘See,

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