Whistle on the wynd part 2
By alphadog1
- 1873 reads
That settles it, put it back. It’s some piece of history that belonged to that old dead body. Leave it alone. Her words were even more shocking by the ferocity of the sound.
Jess 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 on this I stand.
‘I am taking this back home, I am going to properly clean it and when we get home I am going to take it to Exeter museum. That’s that!'
Lyn looked at Josh. Her now mirthless eyes glittered with contempt.
‘Fair enough.’ came her terse reply.
‘Can I see daddy? AJ asked.
Josh passed her the little whistle.
AJ thought about it, playing with the little whistle in her tiny fingers. Then she put her mouth to 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; and in its sound something seemed to wake. Josh shook his head.
Lyn stared at AJ and then at Josh with anger.
‘That’s so fucking you isn’t it! Christ you let them do anything! How do you know that this whistle, or whatever it is, 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! Im sorry!’
‘-Be a fucking parent Josh for Christ’s sake!’
‘-What the-‘
‘-I’m sick of being the grown up around here Josh! Sick of it!’ She looked away.
Silence settled around the picnic blanket, as Josh held back the tears and the rage.The drive home was in silence, as was the rest of the night, where only Lyn could be heard giggling into her I-phone.
When bed came it was full of wild dark horses. Josh heard a scream. He arose and walked to the communal bedroom that the three girls shared. AJ was kneeling in her cabin bed . Her hands were over her eyes, screaming in hysterical wails. He walked towards her and tried to hold her, but she wrestled in his arms and fought him off. He took a step back.
‘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 Daddy? Why did you let me call him?
‘Her voice was low dark and malevolent. Her eyes were lost cold black sockets.
Josh awoke screaming.
That morning AJ came into bed with them.
‘I had a baad dream daddy.’
‘Darling what happened?’ he waited for the reply
‘ -At the broken place there was something there a dark thing it chased me and I couldn’t get away.’ Her voice came in soft sobs.
Lyn moaned low.
‘Come on let’s get up.’ He whispered.
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 what’s there. Lyn smiled warmly at him.
‘I can be a bitch sometimes.’
He could hear the sadness in her voice, but the sincerity was not there; and he knew that would never come back. Trust had been broken.
It was mid-morning by the time he finally met with the staff of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum. He had already been waiting half an hour, so 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, who greeted him with an officious plum weighted voice.
‘Plympton Priory.’ Josh murmured.
‘-Yes yes, 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?' Large boggle eyes stared into his own over the top of polished spectacles.
‘No.’
‘Well I am surprised… I thought that everyone knew.’
Josh held back his sense of mirthless derision.
'The priory was once run by an abbot of , let’s say, a questionable faith. His practices…they were…err… frowned upon. It’s said that he …’
Josh nodded in the right places, but on the whole found the man vacuous and full of his own words: in fact a complete bore.
‘..incidentally You were right about the runic alphabet. It is Anglo Saxon not Viking… the fact that it was found at the abbey infers that it might be part of an older treasure. I’m not sure what the words themselves mean. “Cal ende hae wille cyme.” Sounds very, MR James. Of course the word Cyme also refers to a claim so the owner is owned by the action of calling on “Hae” whomever , or whatever “Hea” might be. Urrm I wonder… Can we have it? His puffy ruddy face was flushed with excitement.
‘ I’ll think about it.’ Josh replied.
Nods followed farewells as Josh left.
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 Josh tried to open it. But it was held fast. He slammed against it.
‘Open the door.’ Ordered Lyn
‘I can’t’ it’s not moving.’ Dark panic filled Josh.
'JOSH!'
MUMMY! DADDY ! HELP! DADDY! MUMMY!
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 broke the lock, Josh smashed the door open and they tumbled into the room, to see three duvets slowly begin to wrap about their children’s necks.
The room howled and screamed with unseen violence; as they fought against the duvet’s that were themselves forming into hideous faces. He fought and grappled AJ free and pushed her out of the room. Then he grabbed Jess and Lyn pulled Eleanor free, carrying her as they staggered down the stairs. They entered the front room. While behind them, the bedroom was howling.
‘Jesus Jesus Jesus'’ cried Josh.
Lyn looked helplessly up towards Josh, who was holding Eleanor tightly. He could see that she was barely breathing.
‘She’s not waking Josh! SHE’S NOT WAKING!’
Josh stared down, his green eyes bulging from his tired sockets.
There was a burning sensation in his pocket. He pulled the whistle out. It hit the floor. Only then did he know what to do.
They drove to the priory on dark open roads carrying out a step of blind faith. when they finally arrived at the ruins Josh took little time in replacing the whistle where he found it, in the hope that if he did so, then Eleanor would wake. With trepidation he walked back to their car and towards a ruddy sunrise.
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Comments
Much better as a two-parter!
Much better as a two-parter!
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Phew! This was brilliantly
Phew! This was brilliantly scary and the end had me chilled. Can't wait to read more.
Jenny.
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