whistle on the Wynd

Cars shunted, and changed lanes. The radio in the background allowed a trickle of Mozart  to be  heard.  It was hot the sun shone down from a clear sky, the motorway was packed.
‘Are  we there yet’
‘No not yet.’
‘Ouch!’
‘Eleanor  leave your  sister alone!’
'DAAAD!'
Josh  looked turned towards Lyn and smiled as he could see that she was trying to concentrate. Giving her elfin features a cute, but harassed side smile. The kids were making a noise, that was nothing unusual. However, the traffic was heavy and that always made her nervous. On days like this he wish he could drive. But years of  epileptic seizures had  closed a door to that.
‘Kids keep the noise down.’
Giggles,
laughter.
‘Come on now girls, mummy is trying  to drive.’
Kids keep the  noise down. 
They stopped  the  car at the   old   priory.   The decision was to  stop here  for a picnic  before heading  down to  Plymouth for the weekend.  The break also meant that Lyn could have a break with the drive, which had been arduous  and difficult.
 It was  a warm sultry  early afternoon,  The  sky had thick  rolling dark clumpy cloud,  that threatened  rain.  The overgrown grass  blew wildly  about   the wooden fences  and the foreground  of the  abbey; whose   dark corners  and broken arches made of grey stone   and tumbledown buildings, of rich red  rock  appeared, at least to a part of him  pulse  with an aged and undead malevolence, giving  the scene a  restless  romantic and haunted look.   He  walked about  taking the scene in with his  Canon  Dsi; and as he clicked paused and set  the frame,  Josh felt the malevolence grow.  A strange   stabbing at his neck  as if  unseen eyes,  full of  a loathing  of  living things  stared out. Despite  the  clinging  sticky warmth  of the  day, a chill within him rose. 
‘Look Dad’ 
It was A.J,  the  youngest  of the three, her  green eyes  shone  with the  delight of pushing boundaries, as she scaled the wall. She  had her mother’s  beauty  and his love of excitement
‘AJ  get down!’
Giggle.
‘come  and get me!
Giggle  
 ‘Come on girls, its food time.’ called  Lyn.
Two  girls  came  scuttling  out  of the shadows of the  abbey. as one  clambered down the the  rough greystone  wall. 
Eleanor  came over exitedly.
‘Look what  I’ve  found.Dad.’
Two  tiny hands covered with  wet mud red clay  and sand  were open palms  revealed a long narrow  tube.
‘What’s  that?’
‘It looks like a whistle.’
'Give it to me!’
‘Girls please!’
Lyn  rummaged in her handbag for the wet wipes.  Always  there  for  the emergencies.
‘You  can’t eat with hands like  that. ‘
The  muddy tube  was discarded  in the  grass.  Josh put down the camera on corner of the blanket and then  walked towards where   the muddy tube   had been discarded. He  picked it up.  His  curiosity  allowed  a tingle  within him to grow.
The  tube was about five inches long. It glinted with an azure  stain in the  rich near burgundy slimy  red clay.  Abstractly, Josh picked up the  plastic packet  of wet  wipes already near depleation due to three mucky little girls and their  ferocious appetite  for adventure,  and began to remove  the  clay. 
‘Josh put it dow-‘ sigh
‘-but  it’s actually  quite’ –
‘-Daaaad, it’s probably  got dog poo on it-‘
‘-Errgehh!  Daddy picking up!’
‘Eleanor  touched it ffirst !’
Oh god kids!
The  tube  cleaned  up well.  It was about five inches in diameter, made  of bronze, or brass,  he couldn’t tell, but then he wasn’t a metallurgist.  He was an unemployed father   of  three, with unrecognised disability and a degree that, if he had the ambition, which right now, he had little  of,  could become something.
‘The writing’s familiar-’
‘-Darling, just put it down.’  She had that awkward face  he recognised, he glanced at her, smiled, slightly  and looked down again.  Trying his hardest not to  hear  the  tiredness in her voice.  Knowing  the growing distance was growing even more of late.
‘-It’s  got  some Anglo Saxon  runes  on it.’
The soft sweet smelling wipes removed the wet clay in a smear across the tube.
through the mud tiny  indentations could be seen. There   were runes and they were  Anglo Saxon.  He was certain of it.  He recalled During the  Dane law,  that began  around   638 CE many practices  were  exchanged, the  writing  of runes was one of them.  The Anglo Saxon  Runic  alphabet,  differed from the Viking  in many respects. Some of this was due to  accent and  dialect differences between locations; making the runic system exchangeable  to a point.  The letters stood out  C..al  e..n..de  h..ae w…ill c…y..me. …Cal ende hae will cyme…  call  and he  will come….  But  come  has more  than one  definition, the recognition of a price being one.  A reckoning.  Fascinating. 
There  were also  three tiny holes near the bottom  of the  tube.   Taking his pen knife  from his pocket he began to  slowly  remove  the soil.  Mud fell out  of the  end of the tube.  Then with  a little  difficulty  he  removed the rest  of the earth clearing it completely.
‘Darling, please put  that thing down. ‘
‘It’s a, a  whistle  I think.’
‘Or some  old tat  some other tourist  dropped while climbing the walls here. Darling, every time  you dig something up, Eleanor  copies you. ‘
‘She  has a love  of historical  finds.’
Lyn gave  her stare to Josh. The stare that  Josh new  too well.  The stare that said   don’t  be an arse  and be realistic. 
‘Have  you seen any jobs lately?’
‘-Nothing.’
‘-Your not  looking  hard enough.  Seven years  you  have been working  towards that bloody degree, now you have  it, start making some money.’
Josh looked down and away from the kids.  Lyn  had said that in front of them deliberately.  It was to undermine  what little self worth he had.
‘Why  don’t   you look for  work.’ 
‘-We’ve been there  Josh. For  Christs  sake  don’t be an arse.’
‘What’s an arse Daddy.’
Josh walked away. He  found Eleanor  at his side a moment later.
‘I love  you daddy.’
‘I love  you  too p-.’  He was going to say pumpkin, but changed his mind, as  she was high on  the spectrum  disorder for either Asperger’s or  SSD.  Ergo  she  would not understand a metaphor.  He grinned and  looked at  this their  eldest  daughter with love.  
‘Tell me,  where  did  you  find it?’
 Eleanor smiled and led  Josh  to the western wall.
‘Just  down there Dad.’  She said quietly.
‘Dad, why  is Mummy like that.’
Mummy is worried  that there isn’t enough money to keep us in our home.  Mummy hates  daddy.  It happens. 
Josh’s  eyes became  strained.  Hiding  the  anxiety that was building.
‘Its nothing  to worry about  darling.’
The  words  sounded empty  and  he knew  that Eleanor  was smart enough  to pick  up on it.
‘So  where exactly  did  you find it?’
She pointed  down at the base of the wall.
Both of them looked at the hole recently uncovered by the recent rain that had fallen.  Feeling  a little nervous,  and not knowing why,  Josh  put his  hand into the earth and felt something hard and narrow. He pulled at it.  With a soft plop the earth released its secret.
it was  the topper most part of a skeletal  finger;   it was  recognisably human.

‘That settles it, put it back. Its  some piece of history that belonged to  that dead body.  Leave  it alone.Her words  were  even more shocking by the ferocity  of the  sound.  He knew  she was tired of making the  decisions  of being the one that had to  come up  with places to go, things  to do. He heard it in her voice, especially after a couple  of glasses  of wine.
Jess  the middle  of the  three  girls and the most  inquisitive looked at the  whistle.
‘Mummy’s  right.  We  should leave it here. ‘
‘I think we should take it to  the  museum in Exeter.’ Josh  tried to  persuade.
Lyn  gave  Josh a  hard stare.
Here  we go again.  No dammit
‘I am taking this back home,   I am going to  clean it  and  when we get home  I am  going to take it  to Exeter museum.  That is that.
Lyn looked at  Josh . Her now mirthless  eyes glittered  with  contempt.
‘Fair  enough.’ came her reply. 
‘Can I  see  daddy? AJ  asked;  her  curiosity matched  her  sense  of adventure.
Josh passed  her the  little  whistle.
Aj  thought about it, playing with the little whistle. Then she put her  mouth  too one  end and blew.  The  sound it  made  was ethereal .  A whisper on the  wind Josh thought  absently. The sound  was captivating  and yet distant.  Lyn stared  at Aj  and  Josh  with anger.
‘That’s so  fucking you isn’t it.  Christ you let them  do anything.  How do you know that this  whistle  doesn’t have  some , some weird shit on it,-
‘-You  can’t keep them  bottled  up forever.’
' -or something  the  germs are everywhere. ‘
‘-what  the  hell is  wrong with you’
‘It was next to a fucking  corpse!’
-Jesus  Lyn!’
‘-Be a  fucking  parent  Josh  for  Chist’s   sake!’
‘-What  the-‘
‘-I’m sick of being the  grown up  around here  Josh!  Sick of it!’
Silence  settled around the picnic blanket, as  Josh held back the  tears.
The drive home from the weekend  was silent  from everyone. But that night the nightmares began. Josh heard the cry first and  went into  the  communal  bedroom.   AJ  was kneeling on her  bed her hands over her eyes, screaming  in loud wails. He walked  into the  room and tried  to hold her, but she  fought him off.
‘She’s still in the dream.’
Then she pulled her tiny  hands  away   from her face  with forceful movements  as if someone or something  was stopping her. 
Then she stared towards him.
'Why did  you let me  touch it  Dad.
Her voice  was low dark  and malevolent. Her eyes were  black  sockets.

Josh awoke  screaming,

That morning,  AJ  came  into  bed with  them.
‘I had a baad dream  daddy.’
‘Darling  what  happened?’
‘ At the broken place there  was  something there a dark thing it chased me and I  couldn’t  get away.’Her  voice  came in sobs.
‘come on let’s  get up.’

An hour later over a summery breakfast,  Josh  spoke to  Lyn.
‘You’re right. I’m  I’m   going to  the  museum  today  to see if I  can  get my name on the work list.Lyn  smiled  warmly  at him.
‘I  can be a bitch  sometimes. ‘
He  could hear  the  sadness in her  voice, the  sincerity  was not there.  But he knew  that would never  come back. Trust had been  broken.

Josh waited patiently  for  one  of the museum  staff  to meet him.  In his pocket he played with the  tiny  whistle. When he  met with the  staff,  he decided  to avoid  the issue  of work and show the  find instead.
‘Fascinating, fascinating and  and where   did   you find it?'  asked the plump sweaty little man behind the desk. said in his plum accent.
‘Plympton, Plympton  Priory’
‘ well   your  right about the  markings, a fascinating find, and close  to where a body  was found you say. ‘  There  was a long pause. 
you do know the  story  about the   Priory?
‘No.’
‘Well I am surprised, I thought that everyone knew.’
Josh  held back  his sense  of derision, this  man was  flogging  his  qualification.
'The  priory  was once run by an abbot  of questionable  faith.  His  practices , well let’s  say they were  frowned  upon.  Its  said that he …
Josh  nodded in the right places, but on the  whole found the man  vacuous  and full of his own words.
‘...incidenttally You  were  right about  the  runic  alphabet. Its  Anglo  Saxon  not Viking, the  fact that it was found at  the abbey  infers  that it might be part of an older treasure.  Im  not sure what the  words  themselves mean. “Cal ende  hae wille cyme.”   Sounds  very,  MR James.  Of course  the  word  Cyme  also refers   to claim  so the owner is owned  by the action of calling on Hae   whomever ,  or whatever that might be.  Can  we have  it?
‘ Ill  think  about it.’
Nods  followed  farewells.
That night  both Josh  and Lyn were  about  to go to bed themselves when  screams  filled  with  terror were  heard  coming from  the  girls  bedroom.
Both Lyn and Josh  ran up the  stairs .   They reached the door and tried  to open it.  But it was held fast. 
‘open the  door.’ Ordered  Lyn
‘I can’t’  its  not moving
‘Josh  OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!’
DADDY!  Screamed  AJ, Eleanor and Jessica   
MUMMY! DADDY !  HELP ME! DADDY!
Josh  slammed into  the  door. Once.  Nothing happened. Twice. Again nothing.  The third and the  fourth time nothing. The  screams  were  getting  louder  and louder.  They could hear things smashing loudly around the room.
With a final viscous kick Josh   smashed the door open  and they  fell into the  room; just to  see the duvets begin to wrap  about  the  girls necks.  the  room  howled and screamed with unseen violence, as he  fought  against the  duvet’s  that were forming into hideous  faces.
He grabbed  AJ  and pushed her out of the  room then Jess and Lyn  helped remove  Eleanor, whose face was pale.
They stumbled  downstairs  to the  front room.
‘Is everyone okay?’
AJ looked stunned Jess was in tears
Lyn Looked up at  Josh  as Eleanor’s  limp body lay in her arms.she was barely breathing. 

The priory was in dark, But Josh knew  walls  themselves held an older  secret and  this  secret  would remain forever untold and  as  Josh put  the  whistle back here they had found it he hoped that what had been woken  would now  finally r