Cumbrian Ghost Stories by Tony Walker

Author:Tony Walker [Walker, Tony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: White Rabbit Press
Published: 2019-09-21T07:00:00+00:00

“What about getting out the front door?” Nev asked.

“Chained up,” I said.

I took a step towards the corridor, shining the bright torch down it. Down at the far end there was a shape. It stood in the shadows.

“Jeez!” I jumped back.

“It’s definitely a woman,” Nev said. Her voice shook.

“Hello!” I shouted. “Hey!”

“What’s a woman doing here at this time of night?” said Rachel.

“Let’s go and see,” said Nev.

My hand was shaking holding the torch. I saw that Rachel had picked up a big bit of wood out of the broken banister. We advanced slowly down the corridor. Then the shape moved. Nev, ran after it and me and Rachel after her, as much scared of being left behind as facing this woman.

Nev was ahead of me. When I turned into the kitchen she was standing there, breathing heavily. She said. “It vanished.”

I said, “Vanished?”

She nodded. “But I’ll tell you one thing.” She looked terrified.

“What?”

“It was Talya’s grandmother. I knew her and it was definitely her.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Rachel said. “It’s giving me the creeps now.”

“You’re the one who wanted to come. You said it’d be good crack,” I said.

“Well, I’ve changed my mind. Talya isn’t here anyway.”

She was right. There had been no sign of Talya. She probably hadn’t been here at all; it was just me jumping to conclusions. I was pretty eager to get out of the place too. I didn’t like the idea of some freaky woman tramp hanging around here.

“Let’s go,” I said.

We trudged up the road to my house. It was nearly 5 am by now. I used my key to unlock the door. The house was again quiet.

“But what about Talya?” asked Rachel.

“We’ll just have to wait until daylight then I’ll tell my dad and we can go out and look for her. I’m sure she’ll be ok. She may even come back before then.”

We mounted the stairs wearily. I was exhausted. I went to the bathroom to wash the mud off my hands before I went back to bed.

It was then I noticed that the airing cupboard was open. It’s big enough to walk into, but not much more. It stands beside the bathroom and my mum keeps all the sheets and things in there. It’s normally closed.

Curious, but with a sense of dread, I slowly pulled open the door. Half lying against a heap of sheets was Talya.

“Talya!” I said, but I knew something was dreadfully strange. As I reached out to touch her, I felt her temperature was wrong. She wasn’t warm like a living person, but she wasn’t cold either. She didn’t resist me but felt heavy. When I turned her, I saw there were bruises around her throat. Her eyes were open and bloodshot, her tongue was black. She’d been strangled.

Then I heard someone standing behind me. I turned round. “Hi,” I said. “I’m sorry if we woke you. I didn’t mean to make so much noise.”

His face was the face I’ve known all my life, but his eyes weren’t right.

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