Unexplained: Real-Life Supernatural Stories for Uncertain Times by Richard MacLean Smith

Author:Richard MacLean Smith [Smith, Richard MacLean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781492697718
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 43063300
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 2018-10-24T23:00:00+00:00

Children pour into the playground in a blur of khaki shorts, sky blue dresses and bright red jumpers, spilling out into the acres of scrub with wild abandon before finally coalescing into more orderly groups; they whizz around chasing balls, or take to the see-saw and climbing frames while others are content to settle in under the shade of the big eucalyptus tree. It’s a beautiful late-winter day without a cloud in the sky. Alyson, a physiotherapist who is today volunteering at the tuck shop, can’t help but smile as she watches the children shriek and giggle about in the bright morning sun, looking like flowers in their wide and floppy sun hats. She senses a little more crackle than usual in the air that morning, probably owing to the fact that the teachers are still gathered inside for an early term staff meeting, giving the pupils free rein of the field. It has been left to Alyson, whose ten-year-old daughter Fifi attends the school, to single-handedly supervise the 250-odd children.

Built in 1991, Ariel School was constructed on the site of an old farm, roughly twenty miles east of Harare in the town of Ruwa, a small rural community that also serves as a municipal hub for the many surrounding homesteads. As a fee-paying facility, its pupils, who attend grades 1 to 7, come from the wealthier parts of Zimbabwean society and are comprised of a broad mix of ethnicities; from the children of Shona, Ndebele and Karanga, among other tribes, to first- and second-generation European immigrants. The playground is divided into an area for swings and climbing frames used mostly by first to fourth graders and a two-acre stretch of dirt and grass. A thick scrubland and line of tall gum trees form a natural border at the end of the dirt flat beyond which lies a dry creek and vast swathes of savannah merging into a series of low rolling hills that slope gently at the horizon. Children from these parts know better than to disappear beyond such natural boundaries; after all there is no telling what creatures might be lurking in the tall grass waiting either to pounce or to defend themselves with deadly venom at the slightest hint of a threat.

As eleven-year-old Salma makes her way towards Emma at the back of the playground, she becomes aware of a loud buzzing noise that seems to be emanating from a row of wooden utility poles and power cables that run under the trees at the eastern edge of the playground, stretching off into the plains beyond. When Salma gets closer, the buzzing seems to intensify until a flash of light flares up from somewhere in the distance.

‘What was that?’ asks Salma, as the pair turn to see where the light had come from.

‘Look!’ says Emma pointing to the far end of the playground.

Salma and Emma watch bemused as a small group of children gather by the trees at the edge of the playing field, as if they had just been called over by someone.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.