A boy gets dragged into an unfortunate situation due to his friends fooling around.
Note: I've written a bit of the dialogue in this is dialect, I hope it doesn't get too distracting but if it does apologies in advance.
*********************
The boy drove west like a kid possessed. Not that he thought of himself as a boy any longer, at 17 he felt he was a man, a point on which his parents sadly disagreed. Nor was he possessed, although at the moment he would have gladly swapped that predicament for the one he faced, after all he reasoned a priest might be able to deal with that kind of problem.
The sun was getting low in the sky now, maybe an hour or two before sunset, he thought, he needed to be in Lancaster by then, he didn’t want to be out alone in the dark. IT liked the dark. He increased his speed. His mam’s old Micra began to vibrate as it hit 90mph, it didn’t concern him as he hurtled along the A66. A downhill section allowed him to use gravity to nudge 100 and take the momentum into the climb that followed it. He felt a momentary pang of pride, he’d only passed his test a couple of months ago and he could already drive like a pro. It soon vanished as he crested the hill and was blinded by the low sun; he threw a hand up to cover his eyes in the process knocking the wheel. Time didn’t slow, although his heart nearly stopped as he fought to keep the car on the road and away from a snow pole.
A few moments later he exhaled as he slowed the car down to a more realistic speed and pulled the sun visor down. The sudden burst of shacking that engulfed him made him look for somewhere to stop the car, squinting he saw that a layby was coming up.
With the engine off he sat and calmed his nerves, it took a couple of minutes before the shacking stopped. Checking his reflection in the rear view mirror, he looked pale but didn’t look as haggard as he felt. Recognising that he’d need a couple more minutes no matter the deadline he decided to get out and get some air. He exited the car giving it a bit of a contemptuous look, what had his Mam been thinking when she went for pink? His dad had been right, they’d never been able to resell it, so now they were lumbered with the aging monstrosity.
Being the end of November it was cold, but the air up here was wonderfully fresh and crisp. Looking at his clothes he realised he wasn’t really dressed for the weather. At that moment as if to drive the point home a gust of north wind came out of nowhere to cut straight through him. He didn’t get back in though, instead shifting a strand of long blond hair that had been blown in front of his eyes he gazed at the Pennines as he rested on the cars bonnet. They were beautiful in the afternoon light in a brown green desolate sort of way and set him pondering. He guiltily realised his parents would soon notice he wasn’t back from Karen’s which would cause them to start worrying; they seemed to do nothing but worry these days. Still this was his only hope, he had to speak to the professor he’d found, and she would only be at the university today. Although he supposed there was an alternative. A car pulling in broke his train of thought as it headed towards that unthinkable option. He stared morosely back off over the valley looking at the shadows cast by the clouds on the heath. Another gust sent goose bumps up on his exposed skin; it was then that he heard her giggle. He shivered, as that meant that IT was probably lurking somewhere in the shadows. Not that IT was really his main problem; he supposed really it was the girl.
“Are you ok pet?”
He screamed and fell off the bonnet.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I just thought, well you looked upset and then, just now, you went all white, so I thought I’d check to see if you were ok.”
Looking up at the middle aged woman that had caused him to embarrass himself he nodded as he dragged himself off the deck. “Erm, yeah I’m fine, sorry about that, and um thanks I suppose.” He stood up blushing slightly and dusted off his backside and legs.
“You sure? You looked quite down.”
“Hi, well, I’ve just got a couple of things on my mind. Look thanks for asking but I should really be on my way.”
“Would you like to talk about it? It might help. You don’t have to tell me anything personal. I really wouldn’t mind if you want to get what’s bothering you off your chest. Besides all I’ve had out of him for the past half hour is the occasional grunt as he listens to the football, I’d welcome some intelligent company” she said indicating to the other car and the man sitting in it who at that moment seemed to have a fit.
“Looks like they’ve scored”, the boy observed.
“Apparently”, she answered with a touch of disdain in her voice.
“Mustn’t be a footy fan” he thought to himself, adding a “weird” as an afterthought.
“So you want to tell me what’s on your mind then?”
“Er no, sorry, anyway you wouldn’t believe me”, he flatly stated and then as he checked the sun and seeing her about to interject added “besides I’m already late. Look thanks for asking, but I’ve really got to go.” At that he headed round the car, and opened the door to get in.
“Oh well, at least you’re not frowning any more, I’d hate to see you get frown lines” she added with a smile.
He gave her a weak smiled back and after another thanks was on his way.
The rest of the drive to the M6 was uneventful, although his mobile did go mad as his parents tried to constantly contact him. That problem was solved when he pulled over and switched it off. He felt awful about that and so he’d sent a quick text to his mam saying everything was ok and he just had something he had to sort out. He couldn’t speak to them; they’d just be angry and wouldn’t understand. How could they? Only he and his mates could understand what was really going on, he supposed that he could make them understand, the gear he had with him in the boot would do that, but that could be risky. Still, he rationalised, surely he had nothing to feel guilty about? After all they used to give him far more leeway, now he had to live by a virtual timetable, although a less belligerent portion of him understood their reasoning. “I should have told them I was sleeping over” he realised.
The M6 was quiet and he made good time, he was glad to know that he would get there before dark, especially after he’d seen IT moving in the shadows of the mountains beside the road as he drove past. The Lancaster exit soon delivered him to the outskirts of the city and then into the traditional traffic jam, he cursed how could such a small place have such bad traffic?
Silently fuming as he slowly edged through the jam he saw the shadows getting longer and could feels ITs presence lurking just out of sight. After 20 minutes he finally made it through and soon reached the university. Parking the car he suddenly had second doubts, she wouldn’t believe him, no one else had believed them. It didn’t matter what she studied, meeting someone who actually claimed they had evidence of the supernatural, especially given the weird nature of the tale, would be hard to accept. Maybe he should go home and face the music? It would all be over soon anyway.
IT lurking in the shadows of a nearby building convinced him against bottling it. He could almost smell IT from here, not that he was actually sure if it had a real smell, but he was convinced IT had a nasty putrid tang to IT. He scurried from the car and quickly retrieved “his” rucksack. The bag was disturbing but he needed something to carry and hide his evidence in. He headed off.
The campus was quite quiet what with it being the weekend and all, but he soon found the lecture theatre the professor was speaking in and quietly snook in. As he listened he became more concerned, sure she knew about the history of demons, ghosts and so forth but she seemed to believe they were mystical. Well he supposed he had to! But the way the presentation was advertised had made him think that she might be different. What was he supposed to think after reading; “Demons, ghosts and imps and the people who’ve met them through the ages: A history of the occult from the Middle Ages to the Modern World”?
This was pointless he thought and got up to leave. Passing through the double doors into the foyer he stopped short, he could see IT lurking by the door. He wouldn’t be able to get passed IT. Cursing the cheap arsed university and their lack of proper lighting, he headed back in to hear the professor finish, and then he could leave with the crowd at the end. IT was a coward; IT would never attack when people that didn’t know about IT were around. The professor was finishing off now; she really didn’t believe in this stuff, he felt like he was going to cry. Instead he sat morosely as she dealt with questions from the audience. Soon it was over and he stood to leave with the others. He supposed it was too dark to head to the car by himself now, maybe he could offer someone a lift into town? Then he’d have to find some place to stay, “Oh Christ, I’m screwed!” he thought as he collapsed back into his seat, bursting into soft sobs.
*********************
Charlotte felt the lecture went quite well, she seemed to keep almost everyone’s rapt attention, there was none of the restless shuffling in their seats that many of her colleagues drew when they presented, although she’d noticed that she hadn’t kept everyone happy with one late arrival departing near the end. Of course it generally helped that the stories and subject matter was fascinating, but then again that’s why she had given her working life over to the subject. She’d also freely admit that researching folk law and stories of the occult was also her most favourite hobby, and through that hobby she’d made friends with Paul who’d invited her to present this evening to the society he headed. Seeing him standing to one side, she extracted herself from her conversation with two rather keen but strident boys and walked over to him.
“So what now?”
“The society’s booked a table at a Chinese in town for 8, but it’s a bit early for that yet.” She nodded at that “We could always head off to one of the bars for now? What were Nigel and Dave badgering you about by the way?”
“Bar sounds good. Oh those two, they were just keen on my take on the Pendle Witches.”
“Well you’ll have plenty of time to discuss that over dinner, they’re a couple of the other members coming.” He quickly added seeing the look on her face “They’re not always that insistent I’m sure they’ll calm down by dinnertime.”
“I hope so it wasn’t so much me answering their questions, as them lecturing to me.”
“Well given the subject matter we do attract a few true believers, but really they are quite fun when you get to know them.”
“I’ll take your word on that”, she chuckled, “ok let’s head to the bar.”
They headed towards the doors, but as she passed the final row of seats she thought she saw something. Taking a second look she saw there was something, well someone there, a teenage girl hunched up and apparently sobbing. Glancing at Paul she went down the row and crouched down beside her, the girl didn’t pay her any attention; she seemed immersed in her misery. Looking at her Charlotte wondered why she was dressed in a skirt and t-shirt best suited for the summer, she wasn’t even wearing tights; it was awfully cold out today. She felt her heart go out to her, her looks reminded Charlotte a lot of her daughter. She placed her hand gently on the girls shoulder; the girl flinched and then turned her head up to look at her all blue eyes from red rims and tear streaked make up.
The boy begins to tell Charlotte his story of the trouble his friends dragged him into over Halloween
Note: I just want to give the usual health warning that for some mad reason I've decided to write some of the dialogue in dialect, so some of the spellings mistakes and bad grammar (although probably not all) are deliberate. Again apologies if it gets irritating.
*********************
The boy was shocked when he felt a hand gently touch him, for a second he thought it was IT, but it was obviously not given the care of the touch. Looking up he answered the woman’s touch with a sniffled “Sorry, you startled me.”
“You’re the late comer I saw sneak in, aren’t you?”
He took a few moments to compose himself before nodding and adding “Yes Professor Knight.”
“Charlotte, please. I thought you left?”
“I couldn’t get out.” Seeing the puzzled look on her face he quickly added “Sorry, it doesn’t matter.”
“Don’t say that, I think it does. Do you want to tell me what’s the matter? What’s your name by the way?”
“Everyone calls me Jamie” he responded, which was true everyone did call him that now, even his passport and driving licence, he hated it! It made him sound like he was 5 again, or a girl, although the later was obviously the point. He much preferred Jim, but given the way he now looked that wasn’t very realistic, even he couldn’t think of himself as Jim anymore; it worried him it meant the girl was winning. He’d seen the same thing before.
“So Jamie, what’s going on?”
“You won’t believe me, there’s no point”
Charlotte looked at the upset girl and decided she really did want to help her, so said with what she hoped was a kindly smile “You could always give me a try; I’m fairly trusting and a unlike most academics a good listener.”
He sadly shook his head. Seeing this was going nowhere fast Charlotte changed tack.
“Look Jamie, you don’t have to talk to me. Can I get one of your friends, a boyfriend?” Seeing the tear stained girl flinch at that led Charlotte to her next question “Is everything alright between you and your boyfriend?”
“Sorry, hi, that’s not it; it’s just strange that’s all.” Seeing that the professor didn’t seem convinced he added “Look, boyfriend troubles are the least of my worries”, he couldn’t believe that he would ever be saying something like that and then added “actually Mark’s quite sweet” or that! That last part shocked him, what had possessed him? Well actually he knew sort of, and he also knew he wasn’t possessed.
“Ok so some friends then? You do go to uni here?”
The boy shook his head and then added “I drove over from Sunderland.”
“Why? To see me?”
The boy nodded, then added, “I thought you could help.”
Everything suddenly clicked “You think you’ve got a ghost don’t you?”
He nodded. “Hi, well sort of, but then well, you obviously don’t believe, I’m sorry Professor, it was a waste of time, I shouldn’t have come” and then with a sniffle “and now I’m stuck here.”
“Stuck? And please call me Charlotte”
“It’s dark now; I can’t be alone in the dark. IT’s always around in the dark.”
Charlotte realised the strange girl seemed serious about this, it piqued her curiosity “Look as you know I don’t believe in this stuff being literarily true, but I know a lot about the theories and beliefs and you obviously believe and are upset by it. Come on let’s go to the bar and you can tell me all about it.”
“Erm”, he looked at the professor she seemed to be concerned he decided to risk it. “Um, ok I suppose, but only if you promise to listen and not jump to conclusions”, he still had worries about been sent to a shrink like had been threatened to Chris, not that anyone but he and his friends remembered that now.
Taking a moment to compose himself he stood and followed her out of the lecture theatre. IT was still here but lurking like the coward IT was. They headed for the bar, although not the nearest as he had been insistent that it had to be bright, so Paul took them to one on the edge of campus.
Once there Charlotte dragged him numbly into the loos to fix his makeup, he did it without really thinking about it, which scared him like it had this morning and every morning since he’d started doing it. The first time when he’d caught himself doing it he was disgusted and stopped himself, that hadn’t stalled the girl that haunted him for long though. He’d been more surprised than he should have been when he went downstairs and his Mam commented on how nice his makeup was. He thought it would have been more bearable if she hadn’t been so understanding about it! Of course since then his parents perception of him had continued to change, now if he tried to go out dressed like he wanted to he got sent back to his room and told that ‘no daughter of mine’s ganin owt dressed like she’s been dragged through a hedge backwards!’ It was easier to go with the flow than deal with the arguments on top of everything else.
With everything fixed they headed to the bar where he accepted the offer of a drink and ordered a pint. Resting her G&T on the table in front of her Charlotte felt she had to ask “Why are you wearing summer clothes? Aren’t they freezing when you go out?”
Looking around to see if anyone was listening he saw that he was out of earshot of the other members of the society that had tagged along to the bar before answering “They’re the least girly clothes I own, now anyway”, which was true, his wardrobe at certainly gone on the girly girl side of things. He supposed he could have worn a pair of “his” jeans but he thought they’d require some uncomfortable procedures in the underwear department, which he suspected would be unwise for driving.
Charlotte was a bit perplexed then realised there was another questions she hadn’t asked “Your parents know you’re here right?”
The boy shook his head. Charlotte was annoyed, she wanted to slap the stupid girl, her parents were probably going up the wall with worry “Well give me their number I’m calling them.” The boy did as he was asked and the professor went outside to make her call, it lasted a while, Paul was called out to speak to them and so was the boy, repeatedly; fortunately there was always someone else there as he ventured out into the expanding gloom of night. The boy was surprised that his parents were so un-annoyed, more relieved that ‘she’ was ok. By the time the whole saga was over it was agreed that it was too late for ‘her’ parents to get ‘her’ tonight, instead ‘she’ would get a room in Charlotte’s hotel, which Paul arranged for ‘her’, and ‘her’ parents would come and collect ‘her’ tomorrow. It was also decided that the members of the society would go to dinner without their guest and that Charlotte would buy another pint to replace the one the boy had downed.
When that was done Charlotte sat and appraised the girl sitting opposite her; the conversation with her parents certainly shed some light on why she’d been upset, apparently someone had been running a hate campaign against her and her friends
“So are you going to tell me your story then?”
“Hi, I suppose” he was feeling a bit more relaxed now, he supposed it was the alcohol it seemed to have a bigger effect than it used to, one pint never had much of an effect previously. “It all started at Halloween when I went around to me best friends Kevin’s, to meet up with me mates.”
Charlotte interrupted there “Hang on your parents said something about your best friend being some girl called Karen, you’d been around hers just before you did your little vanishing act.”
The boy felt guilty again, Karen had probably been having a fit. He should call her, no the story had to be told.
“No, me best friend was Kevin, I’ve known him since I was a bairn.” Charlotte gave him a perplexed look, he sighed “Look it’ll make more sense once you’ve heard what I’ve had to say.”
Charlotte nodded for him to continue “As I was saying I went to Kev’s on Halloween. I got there just after dark. Lee, Craig and Drew were already there, so we were just waitin’ on Chris, who’s always late, but he turned up pretty soon too.
We’d planned to hang at Kev’s for a couple of hours and then gan down the town to meet Helen, she was me girlfriend, and her brother Mark.” He stopped as Charlotte was giving him a confused look, none of these people, except Helen and Mark, had been mentioned by Jamie’s parents. “Look I knaw. It’ll make sense in a bit, it’s all a bit complex that’s al, and it’s better to tell it from the start.” He paused nervously and licked his lips; he got a slight cherry taste from his lip balm, he decided to bite the bullet. “I suppose it might help if we get this out into the open now, though. I’m guessing my parent’s didn’t tell you about me? Or at least what they think they know about me.”
Charlotte was confused they’d told her a lot about Jamie, but she assumed that stuff wasn’t what she was getting at so she shook her head.
The boy continued “I guess it makes sense you are a stranger and al. Look there’s no easy way to say this like, um, well, I’m a boy alreet.” Seeing her expression he added “Na really, I am.” He really needed her to believe this, so he offered “Look I don’t want te, but if you insist I can prove it to ya” he added blushing.
Charlotte got the gist of the blush. “No that’s ok, it’s not necessary. I was just a bit surprised, that’s all. So what, you’re transsexual?”
“No, not really, well I suppose that might be what my parents would tell ya. But their view of me’s been changin’ a lot recently, a few days ago they’d probably have just said I was an average boy.”
Charlotte sat with a disbelieving expression on her face. Sure she could believe that the girl in front of her had been born a boy, if she said so, but surely it must have taken her more than a few days to become what was self evidently the pretty girl in front of her? There was hormones and stuff, but they’d take their time to act, and if she’d gone through all that trouble why was she now claiming to be a boy? And come to think of it what was this about a girlfriend? Wasn’t her boyfriend this Mark?
The boy was exasperated “Don’t look at me like that, I know how it sounds! It sounds mad, but it’s true! I knew you wouldn’t believe me!” he snapped at her.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. Look it might be best if you just continue your story and as you said hopefully it will all make sense by the end” Charlotte said in an attempt to mollify the girl. She couldn’t think of her as a boy no matter what the girl said.
That settled the boy somewhat and after taking a second to compose his thoughts he continued. “As I said we were hanging at Kev’s before heading out and with it being Halloween Kev decided to have some fun, he’d bought a Ouija board to play with. I doubt his parents would have agreed but they were out, so there’s nowt they could do about it really. Now, like you now I thought it was just a toy, but having seen enough movies I wasn’t havin’ anythin’ to do with it so I sat on the sofa and watched a movie as they goofed around with it.”
A wistful smile came over the boys face “They were al sat around the coffee table, with them touchin’ the board and then they started actin’ al solemn and stuff, it was canny funny at first as they asked, al serious like, if there was ‘anybody there?’ But then you could see one of them pushin’ the pointer around trying to pass on messages “they” had and stuff, it started to p, um, irritate me after about half an hour though. I think I told them to knock it off. They didn’t though. They kept on at it for another ten minutes or so, that’s when things went a bit weird.”
“I’m assuming this is where the thing that’s stopping you going out in the dark appears?”
“That?” He said pointing at the dark that was now outside the bars windows, “No that’s a bit later. This al started with Drew turning pale and asking ‘Did you hear that?’ the others nodded, I was quite impressed, I never had them down as good actors. Kev then shot up shouting something about ‘who said that?!’, and knocked the table they were sitting around, the Ouija board went flying off it.
I think it’s then that I told them in me most bored tone that if they thought I was fallin’ for their crap actin’ they were sadly deluded. That got them shoutin’ stuff like ‘what you can’t hear her? Why can’t you hear her?’ Along with ‘throw that bloody board out’, and a fair bit of swearin’ I suppose.
This got me a touch worried, I mean as I said they’d never struck me as particularly good actors, and here they were all shackin’ and shoutin’ and cowerin’ away from this cheap toy. So I decided the best idea was for me to end it all by grabbin’ the board and hoyin’ it out the back door.” The boy paused and took a sip of his pint.
“It didn’t quite go to plan! As I grabbed the board I heard a girl say in a sort of soft, echo like way ‘Great another boy! Why’s it always boys?!’ I don’t think my response was particularly dignified, the others seemed happy though that I’d heard it. Still, I quickly realised that this had to be some kinda trick and told them so, they were fairly peed at that and told me not te be ‘such a bloody muppet’.
We al sort of panicked for a bit then and al the time there was this bloomin’ girl ganin on about how she ‘wasn’t going to talk to any more boys’, how it’s ‘always boys’ that contact her. I think we soon got the gist that she wasn’t too keen on the fact we were boys. It was reet creepin’ us out. So I went with me first plan of grabbin’ the board, runnin’ through the kitchen and chuckin’ it out the back door.
That worked, she shut up as soon as it left the house. I didn’t really think too much at the time of the disappointed sigh I heard just as I was about to hoy it.”
Charlotte interrupted there “Had you and your friends been drinking by any chance?”
“Hi, maybe a can or two, look I knaw what you’re ganin to suggest. That it was some sort of mass psychosis or somethin’, I do A-level psychology, I knaw about these type of things. It’s what I told the others as we calmed down a bit over a beer and we did all agree a temporary bout of group madness sounded like the best idea. We also agreed that getting ratted down town was a good idea and so decided to heed off early.
Of course, Kev had te decide that we couldn’t just leave the board out there, ‘just in case, like.’ They all seemed to think this was a great idea, and as I was the one who chucked it out there it was agreed, on a four to one basis I should add, that I should be the one to get it. I was none too chuffed about this! Still I was itchin’ to get this whole think over with and forgotten about, so I went along with them.
So after grabbin’ a bin bag from the kitchen I went out put the thing in the bag without touchin’ it and brought it back in. I half expected that girl te start up again as soon as I brought it back in the house, but nowt happened. I think everyone was a touch happy about that! Anyway I gave the bag to Kev, tellin’ him he was ‘as soft as clarts’ for not gettin’ it himself. He’d soon had it hidden in his room, until he cad get rid of it on bin day and we heeded on off owt.
The rest of the nite went ok, although Hels seemed narked that we were already slightly merry by the time she and Mark showed up. It then all gets somewhat hazy beyond ten.” The boy paused and took another sip of his pint.
“Anyway, I got ham somehow and woke up around eight the next day with Jake, he’s my annoying tit of a younger brother by the way, bangin’ on me door telling us I’d be late for college. I told him in my best Anglo Saxon te ga away. Mam didn’t seem impressed! And shouted for me to ‘get up you lazy sod’. On reflection I decided it was best to get up, although I felt more like dying.
Lookin’ around, me room was a reet tip, with me folders and books scattered all over the place, clothes throwan from their draws and the wardrobe ‘God I must have been hammered last nite’ I thought lookin’ at everythin’. I wasn’t lookin’ forward to the lecture I’d get from me Mam about this, but decided now was as good as time as any te get it over with, so I went downstairs to grab some brekkie.
Mam was sittin’ watchin’ the TV in the sittin’ room as I went in and sat down with me tea and sugar puffs, that’s when she surprised us with ‘I didn’t hear you get in last nite, what time was it?’ This was a new tactic from her, I looked at her, she was still watchin’ the telly. ‘About twelve I think’, I guessed tryin’ to answer her, and then she floored me with ‘Thanks for not wakin’ us, your Dad had an early start this mornin’. I was shocked, me Mam’s never that subtle when she’s annoyed and if I had made a lot of noise I would have known about it. It puzzled me how I could knock all that stuff around in me room and not make a sound I thought it was reet strange.
Anyway, Mam and Jake soon left and I went to get showered and dressed. Findin’ that me jeans were a bit pongy with spilt beer and what not, I decided to change them. But as I was emptyin’ me pockets for the wash is when I found the note.
I opened it and it said ‘Stay away from her! She’s mine!’” The boy took another sip; the professor seemed to be giving him her full attention so he continued in the passionate tone he’d developed.
“I was reet peed off at that. Some fuc, um, some bloomin’ coward sneekin’ up to us last nite as I was drunk and puttin’ a note in me pocket, trying to scare us away from Helen! If he wanted to ga owt with her he should bloody ask her, and then she could tell him to, er, tell him where to ga. It put me in a reet bad mood as I heeded to college. I think the guys caught onte it as I met up with them before me maths class, as they asked what was rang. I tald them and they thought it was well out of order as well. I also added that it didn’t help that I was well hung-over and seemed te have trashed me room last nite. I wish I hadn’t mentioned that, as it soon brought owt from them how they’d al dan the same. We al agreed that was weird.
Well the rest of the day went fine, I went round Hels after college and tald her about the note, she was a bit concerned but I tald her I’d look after her. I would have liked to have stayed longer but I’d had te gan ham te tidy up before Mam saw the mess.
Nothing much else happened till Friday apart from college and me work stackin’ shelves.” The boy paused and thought for a second “Although actually, thinkin’ about it, there was that one thing on that Thursday I suppose.”
“Yes?”
“Well on Thursdays we often gan owt in Newcastle, there’s some cheap drink offers on. Anyway, as we’re waitin’ for the Metro to heed off doon toon, we were all starin’ at this like light wall they’ve got in Sunderland station, with like projected shadows of people walkin’ behind it on it. It’s not bad, probably a waste of money though. So anyway there was just the usual six of us, Hels not been allowed owt on a school nite, Halloween aside, and a couple of Charvers I suppose hangin’ around at the end of the platform. That’s when we noticed that one of the shadows had stopped movin’ back and forth on the light wall. It was just sort of standin’ there like, reet in front of us. It was real strange, the other projections would walk up te it then pass through it and carry on but this one was just standin’ there, it seemed tw be starin’ at us. None of us liked it.
But then the Metro came and we got on and thought no more about it at the time. Come te think of it we probably should have, but na one believes in these type of things really, except maybe little bairns. Still, that was the last night before things got really creepy.” He paused and looked at his pint, he noted it was getting’ low whilst Charlotte seemed to have hardly touched her drink, as he took a second to think.
He gathered his thoughts and continued. “Friday was when it al started and it was bonfire night. Me, Mam and Dad and Trouble, went off te the councils display, it’s a family tradition we gan every year and it’s quite fun. Besides what else would I do but setoff some fireworks with me mates and make the city sound even more like Baghdad? So it was all ganin fine, the fireworks weren’t bad, lots of nice colars and combinations and stuff. Anyway, just as it was buildin’ te its crescendo that’s when I heard her agan, there was a giggle followed by ‘oh this is jolly!’
That freaked us out. I think I probably went a bit pale, as Dad asked if I was alreet, I just nodded to him. I wasn’t much fun for the rest of the nite and I think we left fairly early because of me.
I was still fairly shook up when I got ham so decided te gan te bed early; me mood wasn’t really helped by world war three ganin on outside either, so it took us awhile te get te sleep. But as things died down around midnight, I think, I nodded off, as the next I knew I woke up around three facin’ me alarm clock. I stretched a bit I think and then moved onte me other side te look at the window. But somethin’ was standin’ in front of it.” The boy paused seemingly apprehensive about what was to come next, as though discussing it might make things worse.
The boy continues to tell his story and things begin to go south for the friends.
Note: I just want to give the usual health warning that due to a sudden rush of blood to my head I decided to write some of the dialogue in accent/dialect, so again apologies if it gets irritating. Also I had hoped to get this finished before Halloween but things at work have suddenly got rather rushed leaving me somewhat knackered by night time and just wanting to vegetate at night. I do however promise to finish it, and hopefully soon.
*********************
The boy bit his lower lip and glanced out the window of the bar, although it was dark out there it was light in the bar and he felt safe for now.
Charlotte saw the girl pale and then pause from her intensely felt narrative, and was about to ask if everything was ok.
The boy, however, had collected his wits and decided to continue. “As I was sayin’ I woke up around three and turned to look at me bedroom window. But somthin’ was blockin’ it. It took us a second but I thought I saw what I assumed was a man lookin’ owt of it.
Now God knows why I said this next thing, as there’s not many good reasons I can think of for a strange bloke to be in me room in the middle of the nite, but instead of asking what the f he was doin’, I thought it best to say ‘Hello’.
That’s when it, as I can’t really call it a he turned round and I got a good look at it. It seemed to stare at me. Not that I could see its face, it was more like a shadow than anythin’ else, but I could feel it starin’ at me. I don’t knaw how long we stared at each other; I don’t think I could have moved. Anyway the next thing I knaw it was beside me bed and I swear I could smell it, it reeked! The stench was really bad, worse than anythin’ I’ve ever smelt. It then pointed at me, or at least it seemed to and screeched ‘You can’t have her! No man can! She’s mine!’ Then it just turned and faded into the shadows.
I thought I screamed, but no one came. If I could have moved, I’m not embarrassed to say I would have ran to my parents room like when I was tiny, but I was too scared te do that either. Lookin’ back I’m surprised I didn’t wet meself, I did sweat a lot. It took me ages to get up the nerve te get out of bed and switch on the lights. I didn’t sleep for the rest of the nite.” The boy paused as he took another sip of his rapidly dwindling drink.
“I don’t think I looked very good when I went downstairs in the mornin’ as Mam tald me te call in sick for work; I didn’t want te be in the house by meself so I tald her na I was fine. She didn’t seem too happy about that but I think she knew I wouldn’t be changin’ me mind. Still seein’ as she likes a good nag she then started ganin on about us needin’ a haircut, instead. I thought that was strange, I’d only had one the previous week and tald her so as I went to grab me car keys.
Mam stopped us though before I could heed out by asking ‘aren’t you forgettin’ someone young man?’ Of course I was! Drew, he’d swapped shifts and I said I would give him a lift into work. So I sat and waited for him in the sittin’ room.
It wasn’t long before the doorbell went though, and Mam called ‘ah there she is’ from the corridor on her way to answer it. I remember wonderin’ who this she was. I didn’t have to wait long as Mam opened the front door sayin’, ‘There you are Mandy, he’s been waitin’ for you’. Al I could think is ‘who the hell’s Mandy?’ It didn’t take me long to find out as a pretty girl with longish chestnut colared hair cam into the room, she looked kinda familiar and had a sort of sheepish, nervous look on her face.
I think I must have stood there with a goofy look on me face for a moment or two just starin’ at her, it made her nervous as I saw her shufflin’ on her feet. I could have sworn I should knawn her, but I had nee idea why. Everythin’ seemed sort of surreal. Mam eventually interrupted by askin’ if I was ‘ever plannin’ to leave?’ I think I said somethin’ like yeah when Drew arrives, which made the girl even more nervous, not that Mam seemed te notice as instead she asked ‘who’s Drew?’
I think I just sort of gapped at her for, well it seemed a while, I mean I’ve knawn Drew all me life he only lived a couple of doors down from me, I didn’t really knaw what to say, it was like she was speakin’ gibberish. I think I eventually said somethin’ like ‘you knaw Andrew Bowes, me friend’, te which she said, ‘oh is he some sort of relative of yours Mandy?’ I think I let out a ‘huh?’ And just stood there starin’ at this girl.
But as I stared, she became sort of more familiar, until it suddenly hit me. I did know her! In fact I remembered doin’ loads of things with her throughout me life, the problem was these were the same things that Drew and me had done! I, um, then fainted.” The boy looked sheepish and stared at his fingernails, he casually thought he should redo them soon. He felt sure there was something wrong there, but putting it to the back of his mind he took a final swig from his glass.
Charlotte gestured for him to carry on. “I woke up on the settee with a sore heed; apparently I’d hit it on a chair on the way down. Mam was havin’ a bit of a fit worryin’, which was sort of annoyin’ as I had a lot of questions that I didn’t think I could ask with her around. It probably took about an hour to convince her that I was fine and didn’t need to go te the doctors or owt. I did agree not te gan to work tough, and, um, well Mandy I suppose, also phoned in te say that she couldn’t make it either.
Eventually, we managed to get rid of Mam as she heeded off round te me Nanas and I could find owt what the hell was ganin on. I think I started out by saying ‘I’m sure you used to be taller and, er, a boy.’
She smiled a bit at me feeble joke but just nodded at the second bit. I actually felt relieved, at least I wasn’t ganin mad, or if I was I wasn’t the only one. I followed up with a ‘well?’ She proceeded te tell me her story, which was fairly brief. I suppose summin’ it up it went ‘I went te sleep a boy and woke up like this!’
I think I asked her to expand on that a bit, which she did. As she said she didn’t remember anythin’ happenin’ but ganin to bed as a boy and wakin’ up as a girl, which was apparently ‘a bit of a shock’. But other things had changed as well, such as she woke up wearin’ pyjamas instead of the boxers she, er, he’d gan to be in and her bedroom had changed te be, well, girly. Not only that but everyone was treatin’ this as normal, that she’d always been Mandy, her parents, her sister, the neighbours on the way over here, me Mam, everyone but me. She seemed surprised that I didn’t think the same.
I don’t think I handled this revelation well and mainly sat there noddin’ as I worked owt how this joke was being pulled on me. After all it all made more sense as a joke, except I couldn’t work owt how me memories of the stuff I did with Drew matched the memories I seemed to have of stuff I did with her.
I started to get a worse headache and gettin’ away from the bigger questions asked ‘are you wearin’ makeup?’ She nodded yes then added, ‘it just sort of happened in the mornin’ as I was gettin’ ready, look I was in shock!’ Actually lookin’ at her she seemed quite calm, I think I smelt perfume. She also seemed dressed like any of the other girls who worked at the supermarket; although she was wearin’ that really pretty blue crystal pendant of hers.” The boy stopped, and looked embarrassed and added sheepishly, “Sorry, I’m doin’ that more often these days.” He cast his eyes down to his now empty glass.
“Doing what?” Charlotte asked.
“Noticin’ things like that.” Charlotte gave him a sympathetic smile and spotting the empty glass asked if he wanted another. He thought he shouldn’t, she still hadn’t finished hers, and he was feeling slightly tipsy already, God he felt like such a lightweight. He accepted her offer.
When she returned from the bar he continued. “So where was I? Yes, I was talkin’ about how Mands seemed quite relaxed about everythin’, if apprehensive around me, it reet unnerved us. I thought if this had happened to me there’s nee way I’d just sit there so calmly, I tald her as much. She blushed quite a bit at that but then had a ga at us for not think about what she was ganin through and how she was just tryin’ to cope. I felt awful, I thought she was ganin to burst inte tears and I can’t stand that. I apologised and asked how she was.
Well, she just shrugged and said she didn’t want te talk about it, fair enough I thought. I wasn’t sure what te dee then. There were so many questions; settlin’ on one I just asked ‘Why Mandy?’ Which got a blank stare so I added ‘I assume it’s short for Amanda? Shouldn’t your name be Andrea instead?’ She just blushed and said she’d always thought ‘Mandy was a nice name actually’.”
“Have you asked her why she said that?” Charlotte butted in. She wasn’t going to say she believed this story, but she felt sure that the strange girl in front of her did.
“No, I’ve not thought about it really, I’ve been a bit busy recently. Do ya think it’s important?”
“Oh no, sorry I was just wondering. Sorry for interrupting.”
The boy continued “I think it was around then that I realised I was just avoidin’ the big issue, so I decided te ask if she had any idea how it had happened? She answered that she had ‘nee idea, but do you think it’s got owt te dee with what happened at Halloween?’ Well that was fairly obvious, on thinkin’ about it, so I just nodded yes.
She then asked if anythin’ had happened te me. I got a bit defensive, so she added ‘just owt strange?’ I told her about what happened the previous nite; she looked concerned, askin’ us if I ‘was alreet?’ Honestly girls can be such worrywarts sometimes!
After discussin’ it for a bit, we decided that we should talk te the others, so I called them and tald them to cam over. They weren’t too keen, especially as I didn’t want te discuss it over the phone, but I think I was direct enough to get them te agree.
It was strange sittin’ with this Mandy who’d been Drew in me house waitin’ for the others to arrive. I don’t think we talked much until Lee and Craig arrived after about 40 minutes, and I hid Mands in the kitchen. I wanted to see what they remembered about Drew. Kev then soon appeared and Chris was late, as usual, but wasn’t that long behind. They all wondered who’d thumped us as they asked about me bruised eye, I didn’t see much point in lyin’ so I told them I’d passed out. They seemed te find it funny.
I think it was Craig who eventually asked ‘so what did you want to see us about then?’ he then added ‘And why’s Drew not here by the way?’ It felt nice knawin’ that I wasn’t the only one who remembered him, but I had to ask ‘Who’s Drew?’ I managed te pull off the puzzled look quite well, I think, at least it seemed to convince them; it probably helped that I could also think of him as Mands as well now.
‘You know the kid that lives down ya street’, he added to which I said ‘oh, you mean Mandy? She’s in the kitchen’, I then shouted for her. I probably shouldn’t have got such a thrill owt of seein’ the looks on their faces as they realised who she was, although I was a bit narked that none of them fainted. Still we soon had them up to speed, we al thought it was reet strange that only us seemed to notice Drew’s change. We thought at the time we must be immune to this perception alterin’ somehow.
I asked if owt weird had happened to them. Nowt had happened to Craig, Chris or Lee but Kev was lookin’ real worried like, so I asked him ‘what?’
Well apparently the Ouija board hadn’t gan in the bin like we’d thought; nope he’d kept it in his room and decided to tack it owt last nite. ‘Why?’ I had to ask him, because he wanted to see if he’d ‘really gone round the bend’, he said.
I wanted to thump him one. Craig jumped in though askin’ ‘ok so what happened?’ Nowt much, he said just that girl’s voice moanin’ about ‘it’s always boys’, he then claimed he’d chucked it back in the bin bag and hid it back in his cupboard. I was havin’ none of it, I’ve knawn him lang enough te knaw when he’s lyin’ and he was doin’ it then, I tald him as much. He wasn’t keen, but as I looked at him I think he could tell how annoyed I was and gave in.
He admitted that ‘there might have been a bit more’. I think we al sort of nodded at him te gan on. So he tald us about how he’d been convinced nowt would happen and been surprised when she started up again. He said he just sat there in shock, with the board in front of him on his bed, as she wittered on.
Apparently as he was sittin’ there ‘she just kept on ganin on and on about how it wasn’t fair that it was always boys’, so he ‘decided to ask what was wrong with boys?’ He’d also added that ‘at least it shut her up for a sec.’ According to Kev, her response was not many of the boys who’d got in touch with her bothered to speak to her, I can’t imagine why! She’d also added how even those that did speak to her had been driven away by ‘him’.
Kev said he’d asked who this him was, and she’d answered that she didn’t really knaw. She claimed she’d never met him, although Kev then tald us she had added ‘well until he’d killed’ her. She’d said it rather calmly according to him and had apparently ‘reet spooked’ him. She’d also added that she thought this ‘man’ had been jealous of her boyfriend.” The boy supped at his new pint, and pondered what he’d just told. He thought he’d repeated Kev’s story accurately so far.
Having decided it seemed ok he continued on. “I think we were all gettin' a bit worked up at this point as it was ganin from bad to worse. But we did discuss it a bit, Kev tald us that although at the time he was well worried, the more he thought about it the more he thought she seemed just lonely. He didn’t think what I’d saw the nite before was her, we al agreed it made more sense that it was this ‘man’.
I think it was then that Chris asked Kev what we al been thinkin’ though; why the hell did he keep on talkin’ to her? He said he hadn’t, he’d picked up the board, bunged it in the bag and put it back in his cupboard.
It al answered quite a few questions but still didn’t explain what had happened to Drew and I tald him so. He’d answered that he thought she’d perked up just before he’d put the board back in the bag, and thinkin’ about it he might have heard her say somethin’ about havin’ an idea.
It was Mands that asked him the obvious of if he thought that ‘this idea was that if boys were bein’ scared away from her, then she’d just have te make sure anyone that she spoke te were girls?’ He just nodded. We al sort of sat there shocked, but it did sort of make sense of everythin’, more than anything else we could think of.”
Charlotte broke in there. “Ok, um well just to clarify for now, but did the girl say anything else about herself?”
“Na Kev said he’d not really asked her much beyond those few questions, but we did decide to sort this out by heeding around his to use the board.
But before heedin’ off I wanted to change from me clothes, so I went up to me room to do that, and Mands heeded off to change as well.
It didn’t tak us long te get changed, and I was on me way back out of me room when I noticed them, some hair clips and a couple of scrunchies. I fair freaked out and got the others running upstairs te see what was wrong.
I told them. Lee found it reet funny and said somethin’ stupid like ‘I’m sure you’ll make a cute girl, you’re blond after al’. He wasn’t laughing so much when I pointed out to the idiot child that he’d be one soon too! I think I may also have tald Kev that if anythin’ did happen te me and the others somehow escaped it, I would make damned certain that he never got a date with any girl in the city again!
I was annoyed and fair slammed the door as I heeded owt to meet Mands so we could al gan to Kev’s. I didn’t get far though, as I crashed into the others who were starin’ across the street at the shadows under the tree opposite.” The boy paused, he wanted to continue, but he couldn’t put it off any longer. He’d known he shouldn’t have had so much to drink; he needed the loos. He excused himself.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Charlotte asked; given what the girl believed was happening to her she thought it might be reassuring not to be alone.
The boy thought for a moment, but the bogs had seemed pretty bright to him, he declined and headed off to the ladies.
The boy continues to recount his tale
*********************
After washing his hands and checking his makeup, the boy returned to the table with a frown on his face.
“Is everything ok?”
“Yes, fine” he answered not wanting to think about it. “Where was I, oh yes. I’d just told you all the others were starin’ at the tree opposite me house.
I looked to see why. It was stadin’ there, in the shade. We got the impression it was none too happy with us. No one else seemed te notice it though, we saw an ald gadgie walk reet past it; he didn’t seem to see owt! But It did, It sort of hunkered back from him, like It was afraid of bein’ discovered.” The boy stared intently at Charlotte and added “It seems to be scared of others findin’ out about It; as long as I’m with someone Its not tryin’ to scare It seems to cower away” he then gestured in the direction of a dark corner of a building opposite.
Charlotte, looked out the window she couldn’t see anything; she also wasn’t sure how to take what this girl had been telling her. She seemed sincere and rational, but the story was so unreasonable. She decided it was best to let her continue, so she gave her a friendly but hopefully understanding nod.
“It also seems to hate the light, but I suppose more of that later” the boy added. “We stood starin’ at It for about five minutes, but It seemed to not be doin’ owt but creepin’ us owt. I think it was Kev that said we were just wastin’ time so we quickly heeded off around his; It didn’t seem to follow us, but It had added to our downer.
We got to Kev’s quickly, and rushed up to his room te dig the board owt of his cupboard. We soon had it dumped on his bed and we stood starin’ at it. We’d sort of expected somethin’ to happen street away like, but nothin’ did.
I think I asked ‘who wants te try usin’ it?’ But I was a bit distracted, by some loose hair that had fallen in front of me eyes and lifted a hand to brush it away. It took us a second to work out that was wrong with that; I had short hair! I remember grabbin’ a strand and holden it in front of me eyes, it was long enough to touch the end of me nose! I think I might have whimpered. It got the others attention though, they were shaken by it. Why hadn’t we noticed that?! Why hadn’t I? This needed sortin’ out so I made to set the board up.
I needn’t have bothered; as soon as I touched the board we all heard her. She seemed friendlier this time, but was concerned that we weren’t ready and tald us to gan away. She was reet windin’ us up and I may have swore a bit, well a lot I suppose. It didn’t get me very far she just shut up. I think that got me angrier as a picked up the Ouija board and started shakin’ it, whilst shoutin’ ‘there’s no use pretendin’ you can’t hear us!’ I don’t think it’s a technique usually recommended for contacting the dead,” he added with a smile towards Charlotte.
“Anyway, the others didn’t think I was helpin’ much and tald us I’d probably annoyed her. They said I should heed on owt and let them deal with it. I was fair annoyed meself so I went along with it. I went to get me hair cut. It didn’t tak long to get a number one al over and a stottie sandwich for lunch; I was back at Kev’s after about an hour to see what had happened.
They looked none too happy, although they had apparently got her te talk to them after awhile. They’d evidently found owt a canny bit about her; she’d even admitted she was behind what had happened to Drew and me miracle hair growth, not that she was willin’ to undo it. She apparently thought I was bein’ ‘quite unreasonable’. That didn’t improve me mood. I was startin’ to wish I’d paid more attention in Sunday School, I’m sure they must have covered somethin’ about this type of thing there.”
Charlotte smiled, casuining the boy to ask “What?”
“Sorry, I’m just thinking my Mother would agree with you, well the importance of church part anyway. Then again she seems to think anything can be cured with a bottle of holy water from Lourdes.” Charlotte answered with a bit of the exasperation she felt towards her elderly parent. She then added, “Did they find out any information about this girl?”
The boy further savoured his drink and answered, “Yeah, quite a bit I suppose none of it of much use though.
Her name is Sally and was sixteen when she died, or so she says, and as Kev had claimed she seems lonely. She’d apparently been murdered during the height of the blitz in London, although the guy who did it carked it the same nite, killed in the bombin’ she claimed. Maybe karma does exist. Since then she’s been sort of stuck she said she wasn’t sure why, although this thing that killed her had apparently been stalkin’ her in the afterlife as well. She claimed she’d got used to it, God knows how but I suppose after sixty years that type of thing might become normal and it apparently can’t do owt to her, but still ya knaw.
Anyway with nowt but that thing as company she’s been, as I said a bit lonely, and so’s been tryin’ to talk to people when she could, she claimed she’s been in touch with a few al of which turned out to be boys. That thing with her however, appears to be jealous about this and was drivin’ them al away. Apparently she was feelin’ reet down after, we’d al panicked after Halloween, but then Kev went and contacted her again. It perked her up, but she realised it just be a matter of time before It drove us al away. It’s then that she cam up with her little plan. The guys never did get her to explain how she was doin’ it, she just claimed that she’d learned a few things over the years.
They’d apparently tried beggin’ and stuff to change her mind, but she was adamant. The guys claimed she didn’t seem to have a very good opinion of men, which I suppose I can understand given what’s happened to her over the past sixty years, she said we should be happy, she was doin’ us a favour really!”
The boy paused and looked at Charlotte, to see if she had anything to add. Evidently not, so he turned his attention briefly to his drink and continued on “I was feelin’ reet down, the guys didn’t seem much better. I told them to get her back, they’d said they tried, but she’d only said we’d al have ‘plenty of time to talk later.’
I think we sat around in a funk for a while, well apart from me as I was up and down like a yo-yo checkin’ me hair. It hadn’t growin’, which I thought was good. Mands also seemed quite chipper about it al, but worried for the rest of us. It irritated Lee nee end though that she wasn’t more upset, and he had a reet go at her. He was getting’ well wound up as she kept askin’ what was wrong with getting used to it and if he’d prefer that she was miserable for the rest of her life? His voice started crackin’ as he kept on rantin’ and Mands was getting’ more upset herself. I thought it best we leave.
Mands and me went to hers and I hung around for a few hours not wantin’ to gan back, but it was reet disturbin’ how her parents were ganin on.”
“How so?”
“Well we’d been disgusin’ what te de that nite like, and well I didn’t want to stay in, so I suggested we de the usual and gan out down the town, at which her dad said he didn’t think that was a good idea. I tried te reason with him but he just went on about how he knew she’d been a bit of a tomboy in the past but that girls had te be more careful than boys. I felt a reet number of things about that such as it was disturbin’, sexist and insultin’ te me and me mates that he thought we’d let anythin’ happen. Instead I pointed out Hels could well be there, it didn’t seem to sway him and Mands just mumbled somethin’ about it not matterin’.
Mandy was causin’ us to worry as well, she was continuin’ to be disturbingly calm about al this. But then as we sat there talkin’ I realised in a lot of ways she was just like Drew, just in a sort girlish way. It gave us an insight into what it would be like for me and mates if we changed, eventually it would just seem normal. It panicked us somewhat, I felt a bit hopeless and just wanted to forget about it al.
Fortunately Lee soon called, he sounded like he was still wound up from his argument, his voice was still a bit weird, but he apologised. The five of us lads agreed to gan out for the nite though, frankly I thing they wanted to forget everythin’ as much as me. So I went back to me house to get ready.
When I got there, Dad and Jake were long back from their footy and I went upstairs to get changed and call Hels about our plans, but she didn’t want te gan, she seemed a bit standoffish to be honest. I shrugged it off and was soon changed and heeded on owt.
It was dark but I decided to walk as it’s not that far te town. It was that time of nite, around tea time, when everythin’ gets a bit deserted and I was feelin’ a bit eerie as no one was around when I heard a pop and fair jumped owt of me skin. One of the streetlight had gone owt, but then in the shadows I saw It lurkin’. I sped up but then another light went, I pegged it te the town.” The boy paused and looked out the window; he decided he should leave the rest of his drink.
Taking the opportunity given by his pause Charlotte interrupted, “It seems we may have a while to go yet, and it’s getting on. Do you want to get something to eat Jamie? We can try the hotel it’s just across the road.”
The boy wasn’t really hungry, he’d eaten quite a lot at Karen’s and he wasn’t eager to go out, but he couldn’t hide in here all night and he’d have to go to the hotel eventually. Besides there were a few students milling around, and he should be safe with the professor with him he reasoned. He nodded his consent.
The boy finishes his tale
Note: Sorry for the delay in posting this as November has now come and gone but I've been very busy, hopefully it won't take too long to finish but given how busy work has been it may still take some time.
*********************
The boy stuck close to the professor, IT was lurking behind them but was keeping ITs distance. The trees around the campus were mostly denuded of leaves and the orange glow of the lighting around the edge of the campus gave them a slightly menacing aspect. It was truly cold, the boy shivered and wondered what he’d been thinking when he chose his outfit. After all Jamie reasoned, although she’d recently outgrown the obsession with pink that she’d had since childhood, she still had that nice coat that her Nana had bought her with some winnings from the lottery. She smiled thinkin’ of when her Nana gave her the coat, she’d seemed so happy, she’d said she suited it, that it made her look even prettier, but she supposed her Nana always said things like that.
The boy’s smile turned to a frown something was wrong there; he knew why he wasn’t wearing any girly coat even if his Nana had bought it. He worried that his mind kept wandering; he needed to keep focused on the task in hand. He supposed it was the stress and tiredness that he felt that made him so distracted.
Charlotte saw the frown but decided against asking and they soon arrived at the hotel opposite the university. Once they’d quickly checked in they headed to Charlotte’s room and ordered room service.
As they waited for it to arrive the boy continued his tale “I think I ran for a good ten minutes and arrived at our usual startin’ bar a bit dishevelled, the others were already there, so I tald them what happened. We spent the next hour or so comin’ up with a plan it seemed like a goodun. Well it seemed like that at the time anyway, so we decided to celebrate by gettin’ merry.
I think I was quite drunk by the time it hit me. Somethin’ had been botherin’ us al nite about Lee, he didn’t seem like his usual self; I assumed it was worry and al. We were heedin’ to another bar and I was fair jumpy at the shadows and wanderin’ a bit behind them, when a group of lads passed by and made sort of kissy kissy gestures towards his back. It al suddenly hit us about what had been different about him. Lookin’ at him normally I just saw what I always saw which was a fairly slobby boy, but when I actually paid close attention to him I saw that he looked totally different. He was sort of dressed well smartly I suppose, if a bit unisex, but the real change was the way he was actin’ it was well sort of effeminate. It’s not somethin’ I like admittin’ to but I was sort of relieved that the girl had turned her attention to him instead of me, or least that’s what I thought as me hair hadn’t suddenly grown agin. It was freaky though that we hadn’t noticed him changin’.
I decided to talk to him when we got to the new bar, so grabbed him and dragged him to one side after getting’ me drink. I asked him about what he was wearin’ but he didn’t seem to have much of a clue what I was gettin’ on at. I got a gradual sinkin’ feelin’. It got worse when I asked if he’d gone home to get changed for the nite owt as I remembered him wearin’ his usual slobby clothes this mornin’ and was hopin’ that he’d just decided to make some effort like he some times did on nites owt. He said he hadn’t, I wasn’t sure how to break this to him, as I didn’t really want a scene at the bar. If I was a girl I would have dragged him to the bogs, but I thought he’d might find that peculiar.
By this time he was getting’ worried, he could see I was tryin’ to get at somethin’, he looked in a mirror behind the bar and he still didn’t get it, but then again he was always remarkably dense. It probably didn’t help I was tryin’ to be tactful. I eventually asked if he ‘normally wore this type of clothes?’ He still looked confused so I gave up and decided I needed a less subtle approach. I went to tell Chris, as he was as about as subtle as a sledgehammer. He soon saw what I’d seen and as I’d expected soon had Lee up to scratch. He didn’t cope very well with it, although he seemed to be gettin’ obsessed with bein’ a tad fey; but he was always a bit bigoted like that. Frankly I was tempted to tell him he needn’t worry about that for long.
We decided to stay owt as there was nowt we could really do about Lee, he wasn’t te happy about it, but we wanted to forget things. Still eventually, it was time to gan back, but I insisted we get a taxi and I was soon in me bed and asleep with the light on.
Next mornin’ was disturbin’ as I woke up with hair in me eyes, it had grown back durin’ the nite even longer, fortunately me parents were up so I got me Dad’s electric razor and shaved it off before havin’ a shower. I nicked meself a couple of times like doin’ it though. I then discovered I had another problem as I was gettin’ dressed as half me kecks had been replaced by girl’s knickers. I was havin’ none of that so I grabbed them along with the scrunchies and some hair brushes that seemed to have appeared and flung them in me bin with the hair I’d chopped off.” The boy stopped at the knock at the door as room service delivered their food to the room.
He picked at his Caesars salad as he continued “I’d thought the mornin’ had started out bad but then it got weirder when I got downstairs and walked into the sittin’ room and everyone just stopped and looked shocked. I was puzzled, I wondered what had happened now, I think Jake said ‘bloody hell’. I had to knaw so I asked them ‘what?’ Me Mam then had a reet gan at us about cuttin’ off me hair; it developed into a bit of a barney. I think it was probably my fault as I was annoyed with her as up till then she’d always been naggin’ us to gut me hair. It didn’t end until I stormed off round Mands to tell her our plan.
I got the same sort of shock from her parents as mine, and decided to just go with I fancied a change to stop al the questin’. Anyway I was about te tell Mands the plan, when her mam got a call. Mands’ mam sounded quite concerned as she spoke on the phone so we nebbed in to find owt what was ganin on. Al we heard were things like ‘is she ok?’ and stuff like that; both Mands and me got a sinkin’ feelin’.
Her Mam was soon off the phone, and cam in te see us. She told us it was ‘Lisa’s Mam’ on the phone, apparently ‘someone’ had trashed her room whilst we’d been out last nite. They’d had the police round and everythin’ there were there now taken statements. She said the others had had a similar thing happen, everyone was quite upset. She’d built up a head of steam by now and was havin’ a reet rant on, to be honest I wasn’t really listenin’ as I’d sank into a funk thinkin’ how we were already down by two, with only four left. I was also puzzled why me room hadn’t been trashed.
It was then that Mands interrupted her mam and asked if we could be alone. Well when her mam had gan she asked us if I’d heard what her mam had said. I tald her na I hadn’t really been listenin’, so she tald us how her mam had been rantin’ about how people could be so closed minded just because someone wants to gan by a girls name and wear women’s clothin’.
That cheered us up as we weren’t down another yet so I called Lee’s mobile. The voice that answered it sounded nowt like him though so I thought I’d better ask ‘is that Lisa?’ That got a groaned ‘not you as well man!’ from him. So I apologised and asked him how he was doin’. He told us apart from shrinkin’ a bit and loosin’ some tone he was still himself, well apart from everyone wantin’ to call him Lisa and the change in his wardrobe. I also asked how his parents had found out about his room been wrecked as we’d agreed to keep this thing between ourselves. He admitted that he may have made a bit of noise when he’d found the mess but then he had to gan as his parents wanted him.
I called round the others, they’d been equally indiscreet when they discovered the damage and were bein’ distracted with police and stuff. It looked like it would only be me and Mands that could put our plan into action, so I tald her about our plan to get the vicar involved and we set off to tell him.
We didn’t get far as Mam cam round just then, Lee’s mam had phoned ours as well. I got a reet lecture about why I hadn’t tald them somethin’ was wrong, if this was why I’d shaved me head, how I shouldn’t let people affect how I behave and on and on. It was time for lunch before she was done and I was dragged back for that.
Mam takes Sunday lunch seriously so it wasn’t till four before I tried to sneak off. I was fairly sick by then anyway they were all actin’ dead concerned even Jake it was getting’ on me nerves. I didn’t manage to leave though as Dad said ‘it’s getting’ dark, you shouldn’t risk it after what happened last nite’. I tried arguin’, I thought about sneekin’ out but Mam can be like a hark at times, I thought of tellin’ them I was ganin to church but I doubted they’d believe me. I even thought of tellin’ them the truth but then thought about what if this thing started after them or if the girl decided to start doin’ funny things to Jake or Dad. It wasn’t worth the risk.”
The boy looked at his salad, he hadn’t really eaten much but he wasn’t hungry. He looked at Charlotte “I’d hoped I could risk tellin’ you?”
To her shock Charlotte found that she actually was beginning to believe the girl. “We’ll see what we can do, but tell me what happened about the vicar?”
“Well nothin’ happened that nite. I slept with the light on again, but in the mornin’ the hair was back and al me kecks had gone. I decided to gan commando rather than wear knickers but givin’ the argument the day before thought it best to leave me hair alone. I got another lecture about been careful before I could heed off to college though. The others were already there; I wasn’t really surprised when Lisa turned up and admitted she was al girl now. Chris was late as we planned ‘operation get the vicar in’, but he was always late so we weren’t surprised.
The plan was simple in that we’d planned to skip college, go to the local vicar, tell him what was ganin on and get an exorcism performed. It didn’t work out quite so easily though, you’d be surprised how hard it is to try and convince one that you’re bein’ haunted. We tried the CofE a couple of times and the Methodists, and they were havin’ none of it. Honestly what’s the point of havin’ them if they’re not ganin to do anythin’ about ghosts!
After wasting most of the day we eventually got an evangelical minister to perform one, I wasn’t that impressed with it at the time, it seemed to be more some weird sort of blessin’ than anythin’ designed to solve our problem. We were even less impressed when we left the church and saw it sort hidin’ in the shadows of the car park. Lookin’ back maybe we should have gone to a catholic church, they’ve been in the business longer, they’re probably more kosher.
Anyway with that as a busted flush we heeded round Kev’s to try and plan what to do next. It was only when we got there that we realised Chris still hadn’t turned up. I tried callin’ him but he didn’t answer. So we agreed I should gan round to his to see what was up, whilst the other geniuses came up with a plan to get us owt of this mess.
It didn’t tak long to get there and his dad answered the door lookin’ knackered but he seemed happy to see us. He shouted for Chris and was then ganin on about how he was surprised nee one else had visited, I wasn’t sure what to mak of that. I found owt when Chris cam in, he was well on the way to the other side, and he also looked shattered.
I asked what had happened, he said well apart from the usual as he pointed to the girlish top and jeans he was wearin’, he’d had a bad time of it. Apparently after the cops left on the Sunday, he’d taken it upon himself to do a bit of research around this Sally girl. He’d not really found much but he said as he’d been on the net he got this gradual creepin’ feelin’ that he was been watched, it eventfully forced him to give up as he was gettin’ te worried. He claimed he’d been jumpy all nite and when he went to bed slept with the light on. Anyway seemingly sometime durin’ the nite he was woken up by a loud crackin’ sound and found himself in the dark.
He said that he tried to sit up but couldn’t, something was holdin’ him down, he claimed he looked at his chest and that thing was crouchin’ over him. He apparently screamed and had a bit of a fit, which got his parents attention. He’d then tald us he’d tald them everythin’, he said they’d not believed him. In fact the way they reacted seemed to him to imply that they thought he was havin’ a breakdown, he started worryin’ about bein’ sent to a shrink. His parents even insisted that he not gan to college that day.
He needn’t have worried however about any of that, he said his parents seemed to forget as the day progressed, they remained worried but seemed just concerned about him. It wasn’t till sometime in the afternoon that he noticed the changes happenin’ to himself, although he seemed quite resigned to it. I wasn’t really that surprised when Chrissie turned up at college the day after. But then again we al had a pretty bad nite that nite, windows were smashed, police were called, it was al a bit unpleasant and I think we were al sort of thinkin’ about other things by then.
We were al fairly worked up, everythin’ we’d done had seemed to make matters worse, we decided to see what would happen if we did nowt for a day. It worked, we al had a peaceful nite that nite. That’s when we cam to the conclusion that investigatin’ this seemed to make it worse and I think me, Kev and Craig went into a bit of denial about everythin’, especially as not much happened for the next couple of days. Well apart from the continuin’ creepin’ changes to me room.
We just sort of coasted along on a wave of fatalism really. But then Craig changed durin’ the course of a maths class, which was disconcertin’ to watch. Then Kev went over the course of last week. To be honest I don’t think even that would have knocked us out of me sense of denial even though I was still gradually changin’.
I think it was after I went round Hels last Tuesday to try and sort out the strained relationship between her and me that I was knocked out of me stupor. When I got there I was shocked that Mark thought me and him were now an item, it was a bit embarrassin’ tryin’ to get out of there really. He was bein’ really sweet though but it was just so weird, it didn’t help that Hels seemed to want to be best girlfriends. I probably wasn’t as polite as I could have been leavin’, but I just couldn’t cope with any of that. Still it was on the drive back from Mark’s that I saw that thing followin’ us home, I thought we’d got rid of it but there it was again and I got the feelin’ it weren’t too happy either. I didn’t sleep that well that nite and I was even more worried when me Dad woke us. Me car had been wrecked, me parents were havin’ a fit but I knew what had happened, I just didn’t know why, we’d been leavin’ everythin’ well enough alone. Anyway I decided if leavin’ it alone hadn’t done any good I’d try to find a solution, which one way and another led to me find you and comin’ on over here.” The boy finished he felt so tired but also relieved that he’d finally told his tale, he looked expectantly at Charlotte.
She paused thinking, then looking at the girls pink backpack said, “That’s quite some story, I would say that you seem convinced but that makes me wonder why you haven’t brought out your evidence.”
“It’s risky.”
“I think I’m big enough to handle it, besides even if what you say is true I’m already a girl.”
He paused she seemed pleasant and he didn’t want to risk anything but he’d come this far. “Ok, I suppose it’s what I came here for”, stated the boy as he reached into his backpack to retrieve the Ouija board he purloined from Karen. He placed it on the bed.