(S1/E1) GRAVEYARD TALES - TURN TO THE LEFT, SECOND ON THE RIGHT

It was thirteen years ago, when my twin brother Dean and I had met Charlotte Mason, and our adventures had began. And they've now been happening almost once a year for the past thirteen years...

I pulled over by the side of the road when he saw the figure just lying there.
It had been drizzling all afternoon, but now it was getting even heavier. We were driving back from our mate Frankie's house, and was driving along the stretch of road, which was very much like a country lane. Dean, was playing his old Metallica tape. At the minute, "Enter Sandman" was blasting out of the speakers.
"What's that up ahead?" Dean asked.
"What?" I replied.
He pointed. I followed his finger. Up ahead, just to the left of us, there was something black and bulging, just sitting on the side of the road. I couldn't exactly see what it was, because the rain lashing on the windscreen made my eyesight squinty.
"Sean, aren't you going to stop to see what it is?" My brother asked, just as I put the indicator on to do exactly that.
I pulled over, and got out of the car. Dean, not wanting to be left in the car by himself, followed me out.
As I got closer to the figure, I bent down and prodded it with a finger. I saw that it was a black coat with someone underneath.
As I prodded it, it moved and sat up. At once, I saw it was a girl, about our age. She had shoulder-length brown hair and skin just a shade lighter brown. I suspected she was an Asian. She looked up at Dean and I; looking terrified. I suddenly noticed she had a heavy nosebleed.
"It's okay," I said. "We're not going to hurt you."
She whimperted as if in pain, then said: "I was walking home along this way, when I tripped and sprained my ankle."
"What's your name?" I asked.
"My name's Charlotte."
"Charlotte, eh? Pretty name. Well, my name's Sean. And this is my twin brother Dean." I waved behind me at my brother.
"Come on," said Dean. "Put her in the car and drive her home."
"Come and help me," I told him. "She's sporained her ankle."
Between us, Dean and I hoisted Charlotte up and helped her to our car.
Dean offered to sit in the back with her so he could keep an eye on her.
"So, Charlotte, where do you live?" I said.
"It's twenty minutes along this road if you drive. You'll come to a turning to the left and you go along it. My house is the second on the right."
"Okay, get a move on Sean."
I revved up the engine, and as it came into life, I zipped away along the road.
"You're lucky we stopped," I heard Dean telling Charlotte. "My brother was going to carry on driving past. I made him stop."
"That's not true!" I retorted. "I was just about to stop before you told me to."
"I'm only pulling ya leg, Bro, chill."
After another fifteen or so minutes of driving, I saw a turning to the left of us, as Charlotte had predicted. I put the indicator on, and swerved the car to the left.
"Okay, second on the right, right?" I looked in the mirror at Charlotte. She nodded.
"I have to warn you, though," she said. "The houses along here aren't strictly right next door to each other. There will at least be five minutes before you find my house. Look for the big, plasstic 'TWO' on the front door."
I bore all that in mind.
A couple of seconds later, a house came looming up. It was a qaint little cottage, staight out of Beatrix Potter; it had a big, plastic 'ONE' on the front door.
We drove staight on, certain that Charlotte's house would be the next one.
After about ten minutes, we saw another house gaining on us. This time, it was quite large, with three stories. I looked closer at the front door. Nailed to it was a big, plastic 'THREE'.
We stopped the car. Number three? How could that be? We'd passed the first house five minutes ago, but we didn't encvounter any other houses until this one. Where had number two gone?
I looked behind me at Charlotte and Dean. "Did we pass another house and didn't notice it?"
They both shook their heads no. "I didn't see anything," Dean said.
"Me neither," Charlotte echoed.
I revved up the engine yet again, and drove back the way we came. We drove past the cottage with the 'ONE' nailed to the front door. I made a quick u-turn, and told Charlotte and Dean to make a note that we'd passed number one and to keep an eagle eye out for number two. After ten minutes, we saw another house looming up. But it was the same house as before. Number three.
"What is going on?!" I yelled. In the back seat, I heard Charlotte start to cry.
"What's wrong?" Asked Dean. He looked bewildered.
"Well, you're going to think I lured you here under false pretences to do something bad to you," she sobbed.
"No, we don't think that," Dean reassured her. "Do we, Sean?"
"No," I agreed.
The idea hadn't even begun to think about crossing my mind, but now it had been uttered out loud, I began to wonder. I looked at Charlotte, who looked like a total hard nut, wearing a red hoodie with black trousers, and a blue headband in her hair. But she didn't seem to be acting like a total hard nut. All the same...
I drove right on by the cottage marked 'ONE', then I made another quick u-turn, and drove by it again. After five minutes, I noticed something I'd never noticed before.
Where we'd driven by a large field before, there was now a sign held up. I quickly stopped the car and leapt out to read what it said. I heard Charlotte and Dean slam their doors closed, and follow me.
All three of us stood in a little huddle, reading the sign:

"Number two Green Creek has been knocked down for furthur development."

Dean and I looked at each other, horrified, then we looked at Charlotte, who was standing in the middle of us, for her reaction. Her face had gone milky-white, and her lips had begun to tremble.
"That's it?!" She screamed. "That's it!? No other explanation? WHAT ABOUT MY FAMILY?"
As if in answer to her question, a piece of paper came out of nowhere, and fluttered to the ground.
Dean bent down, and picked it up. He read the contents, his mouth growing into a wide 'O' shape.
"Charlotte. Sean. Come look at this."
We crowded round him. When we'd finished reading, Charlotte began to cry.
The piece of paper had infformed us that the Masons, presumably Charlotte's family had all been gassed because they had refused to move out of their home. Seeing as Charlotte wasn't home at the time, she was the only one to survive the gassing.
Charlotte started howling, and Dean and I both hugged her for a bit. When her sobs subsided, we all stood around wondewring what to do. Obviously, Charlotte had no other home to go to, and Dean and I couldn't exactly leave her on her own. In the end, we drove her back to our little flat so she could stay with us for a few nights until she'd figured out what to do.

Those few nights have now turned into thirteen years. We couldn't bear Charlotte moving out, so we invited her to live with us permanantly. It's just been us three having these adventures for the past thirteen years. Sometimes our mate Frankie has joined in, sometimes not. I now conclude the first chapter in my book of true horror stories, with this saying: Sometimes reality can be scarier than any "Twilight Zone" episode, or creepy miovie based on a book by Stephen King...

Catch the next Episode - Episode Two, The Haunting Of Frankie's Dad at a later date...