My stories to show the people in chat

(if I can delete this thread as soon as people in chat have seen these unfinished stories, I'll be deleting this thread)

The Woods

The dark wood can be very dangerous. It is easy to slip because the ground is often as slippery as a patch of ice. You can’t often hear much there, as it is usually as deserted as the Mary Celeste. The birds don’t usually sing; the wildlife prefers to hide away until night time. During the dark hours, when it is as black as coal, the foxes and badgers come out to find food. You can often hear the owls hooting and if you listen carefully enough, you can sometimes hear a snake slithering along as quiet as a mouse.

The trees are not evenly spaced out; so it looks very untidy. Nature has taken the area and made it look like someone has thrown plant seeds in all directions to see if there’s any chance anything will grow. The wood is completely overrun with weeds. The bramble bushes grow almost as tall as the baby trees and are as prickly as a hedgehog. There is only one path through the middle of the wood; the other paths are all overgrown now. The path is long and steep; often used as a shortcut between the village and the river. People can no longer walk through the wood apart from that one path because of the sheer number of plants around. The animals can usually squeeze through the small gaps in the plants, but there’s no room for people.

Our story begins, though, on a cold windy day in late autumn. The leaves in the woods were coming off the trees in droves; the squirrels were busy rummaging through the leaves looking for acorns. Rain was drizzling down, making outside a cold and miserable place to be. The river was close to overflowing; the water level was dangerously high. It had been raining heavily the previous day and early morning, which was the cause of the river being so close to overflowing. By the river, where our story begins and where the waters were roaring along and gushing down the waterfall at the edge of the wood, there were a small group of people watching the river gushing past. One of the villagers turned to the eldest villager and spoke.

“I don’t see her, Gerry, can you?” he asked.

"No, maybe she's not planning on showing today" Gerry said quietly and slowly. "She doesn't always want to show herself"

"When was the last time she showed herself?" asked one of the other villagers, who had only just moved in to the village with his wife.

"She's not been seen for over fifty years, no one knows if she's still here or whether she's moved on" Gerry explained.

"Who is she?" asked Timothy, who was the latest villager to move into the village.

"Folk round here call her the River Lady" repied Gerry. "No one knows where she came from, exactly who she is or where she's going, if indeed she's still here. All that's known is she likes the river and lives there."

The villagers watched a boat sailing past, getting close to the waterfall. They could see the poeple in the boat desperately fighting to keep the boat from going over the waterfall. They could hear faint shouts from the boat; calling for help.

"Hold on!" shouted the villagers.

Someone got hold of a long stick and tried hooking the boat to pull it to the edge of the river. Too late the villagers realised there was no way they could hook the boat. Too late the people in the boat realised the only way to the shore was by swimming. A moment later the people on the boat screamed as the current dragged them over the waterfall. There was a crashing sound as the boat smashed on the rocks below. All the villagers could hear was the sound of the water rushing down the waterfall.

Timothy was the first one down the slope to the bottom of the waterfall. He scanned his eyes to see if he could see any signs of the boaters. He saw nothing - not even the wreck of the boat. There was no sign of life.

He returned to the top of the slope, to where the remaining villagers were standing and shook his head.

"They went under. I couldn't get to them in time" he called.

The villagers who had remained at the bottom of the slope were desperately scanning the river with their eyes. After a few minutes, they saw the parts of the boat emerging, just a few pieces of wood, broken up by the rocks. The villagers stood there in shock. They couldn't believe some people could be so stupid as to take a boat out on such a windy day when the current in the river was so strong.
James (the youngest villager there) was the first one to see the remains.

"Look!" he called urgently to the others. The youngest of the villagers all sprung into action, grabbing sticks and pushing them as far as they could into the water in the hope that one at least of the boaters would grab the sticks. They felt the stick catch on something, hooked it onto the stick and pulled. There was a lot of resistance and it was hard work pulling it up. Eventually they managed it; all the villagers pulling as hard as they could. Up came a heavy chest, part of the lock was heavily rusted, but it had been reinforced at some point with bright, shiny silver.

They left the heavy chest at the side of the riverbank and went straight back to trying to locate and rescue the boaters. Timothy was the next one to hook something on his stick, or rather someone - they had finally hooked one of the boaters at long last. Sadly the other boaters had been swept away.

At first, it seemed like the rescued boater had drowned. James and Timothy got to work trying to resusitate the rescued boater, while the other villagers went back to trying in vain to locate and rescue the other boaters. After about half an hour, when it was becoming quite clear the boaters had long since been swept away and drowned, the villagers finally admitted defeat and withdrew to the rescued wooden chest.

The rescued boater coughed and spluttered under Timothy and James's efforts. After a lot of coughing, spluttering and gasping for air, the boater was finally able to sit up. Timothy arranged for the boater to be taken to the village, then with James, they opened the chest. Inside, they found two layers of various items. The first layer they came across were gold blocks, silver coins and various weapons, including a sword with diamonds and emeralds down it's hilt. They removed all the gold bars, coins and weapons from the chest, then recoiled in horror and shock. There was a body of a woman in the chest, chopped up like someone had taken an axe to her. From what they saw, she had been badly burned, chopped up and some of her bones were crushed. Her skull was nearly non-existent because Someone or Something had crushed it into powder.

Suddenly, they heard a noise coming from the woods. They turned to see who or what had found them, only to see the most hideous creature they had ever seen; green and slimy like someone had poured a huge tin of paint over it! Oh, the smell, it stank to high heaven! Timothy sank down, completely overcome with the smell. James yelled and ran, hoping to get back to the village for help. The creature, whatever it was, left Timothy lying unconscious and chased after James, looking to eat him.

James saw Gerry returning towards them alone and shouted to warn him. The creature sped up seeing a perfect victim in Gerry, due to the fact that Gerry was an elderly man. Gerry knew he wouldn't be able to outrun it; it was moving too fast. In desperation, James swung at it to prevent it from getting to Gerry, but missed. Gerry had no time to react; no time to move out of the way of the creature. It reached him in seconds, then a branch swung back and James knew no more for a few hours.

When he came to himself, he found himself alone. Someone had moved him from the woods back to the village, into one of the cottages. The door opened and in walked Adam, the rescued boater.
Suddenly, they heard a noise coming from the woods. They turned to see who or what had found them, only to see the most hideous creature they had ever seen; green and slimy like someone had poured a huge tin of paint over it! Oh, the smell, it stank to high heaven! Timothy sank down, completely overcome with the smell. James yelled and ran, hoping to get back to the village for help. The creature, whatever it was, left Timothy lying unconscious and chased after James, looking to eat him.

James saw Gerry returning towards them alone and shouted to warn him. The creature sped up seeing a perfect victim in Gerry, due to the fact that Gerry was an elderly man. Gerry knew he wouldn't be able to outrun it; it was moving too fast. In desperation, James swung at it to prevent it from getting to Gerry, but missed. Gerry had no time to react; no time to move out of the way of the creature. It reached him in seconds, then a branch swung back and James knew no more for a few hours.

When he came to himself, he found himself alone. Someone had moved him from the woods back to the village, into one of the cottages. The door opened and in walked Adam, the rescued boater.

"How are you feeling?" asked Adam.

"What happened? How are Timothy and Gerry?" asked James.

"We didn't find either of them." replied Adam.

"I've got to get back out there! Timothy and Gerry might be in danger!" James cried, trying to get up.

"Mark has taken out a search party to find them." Adam explained. "While we wait for him to come back, I'll explain why we were out on the river."

"Go on" James encouraged, when Adam paused.

"You've heard of the River Lady? We set out to find her, she went missing years ago" explained Adam.

"We heard about that here" James admitted. "It still doesn't explain about the chest, the weapons or anything else"."

"We found the chest about half an hour after we set out. I can't speak for the others but I felt the boat grinding on something."

"Hang on, you've completely lost me. Start at the beginning." interjected James.

*********************Flashback******************** *****************

The wind was whistling on the cottage. Adam was getting ready to take the dog out when he heard someone knocking on the door. His wife got there first and opened it before calling him.

“You’ve got a visitor, Adam.” She called to him.

He took the visitor through to the communal room before asking him why he was visiting before breakfast and who he was.

“I have come from the Melanie Rose” the stranger explained, using the name of the boat. “We are three hands down and desperately need more hands to help.”

“I apologise, but my wife is pregnant with our first child and I can’t leave her.” Adam explained.

The stranger explained that it was a treasure hunt and they would be searching for the River Lady. The River Lady’s disappearance was a severe cause for concern, the stranger explained.

Adam’s wife left the room, deciding to let the two men have their discussion in peace. She sat in the kitchen next to the communal room. She could hear the two men discussing the River Lady and the treasure hunt. The communal room was where all the visitors were greeted in and any business carried out, she knew, so they were using the room correctly.

Adam and the stranger discussed the River Lady and the treasure for several hours. It was starting to get dark when Adam finally showed the stranger to the door. Adam would never tell anyone who the stranger was or what finally decided him to agree to go.

Adam came through to the kitchen to get something to eat and to get ready for the trip.

He had promised the stranger he would get to the “Melanie Rose” first thing the following morning.

He went up to bed early to ensure he got enough rest before the trip. Alice, his wife, followed him upstairs. Adam woke up in the early hours of the morning to find Alice had switched on the lamp. She was sat up in bed looking at their wedding pictures which had been drawn by one of Adam’s friends, who had sadly died in a large fire nearly a year previously.

“Such a waste of a young life” his wife sighed. “This was the last picture he ever did for anyone”

She shook her head, and then changed the subject.

“If you have to go on this trip, please be careful” she begged.

“I will, I promise” Adam reassured her before kissing her. “I’ll be away for just a few days, I need to help the others find the River Lady.”

“I’d much rather you didn’t go” Adam’s wife sighed.

“I won’t be long I promise” Adam reassured her again.

Gradually, they both fell asleep in each other’s arms. Adam had a strange dream that he was underwater and something or someone was crying for help but he couldn’t reach them. He fought against the current sweeping him away from the voice, desperately trying to find the person belonging to the voice.

The next thing he was aware of was his face getting soaked, causing him to believe he was drowning. He woke up with a cry, causing his wife to wake and look at him in concern.

“Are you all right?” she asked him.

There was a pause while Adam calmed himself down.

“I’m fine, it was just a dream” Adam admitted.

Cat story

I was born into a home along with several other kittens, because our mother had escaped and mated with some tom cats on the streets, which made us a so called “oops” litter. I only have a dim memory of the time in that house; although our mum’s two-legs let our mum raise us to eight weeks before abandoning us.

I would rather not remember that day; they picked us up and put us in a cage. We were put in our mum’s two-legs's “car” and taken away. It was a long journey and none of us knew where we were going. I was travel sick; but my sister was even more travel sick. At that stage none of us had names; we didn’t even know what names were!

After a while mum’s two-legs pulled up in the car and opened the boot. The male two-legs got the cage out then without any pretence of ceremony tipped us out onto the grass. We all started wailing – wouldn’t you if you were tipped out of a cage next to the road? All we could do was watch as the two-legs drove off.

We tried following the car, crying for them to stop, desperate for them to come back and tell us it was all a huge mistake. Tell us they were going to take us back home. We quickly discovered this was useless though, it was starting to get dark and it was cold despite the fact it was a summer night. The temperature dropped rapidly; forcing us to take shelter in a hedge that went along the side of the road.

We were feeling cold and sick with hunger. None of us had eaten anything since we left home. No-one came for us so we had to take it in turns that night to try catching something to eat. I found a bird’s nest complete with baby birds; my two brothers, my sister and I helped ourselves to the babies. The family of birds tasted good; the four of us kittens were hoping there would be more for breakfast time. The mum and dad birds were obviously out hunting.

Morning came and with that breakfast time. We’d not slept much that night, partly through missing our mum and partly because of catching and eating the bird family. We had to wander off away from the road in order to find some breakfast. We went through the hedge and came across open fields, which we had never seen before in our lives. We went out hunting for some food in those fields after separating. By this time both my brothers were scratching a lot, as was my sister. Later, I learnt these must have been fleas.

One of my two brothers had a run in with a fox. He had tried to help himself to the fox’s food and the fox hadn’t taken kindly to it. The fox spun round and attacked him, tearing at him with its teeth. The fox turned on the rest of us when we arrived and chased us off. I never saw any of my siblings again; I have no idea if any of them are still alive.

So there I was, sitting all alone in the field without my brothers or sister. I had got myself lost after running from the fox and hadn’t stopped until I’d collapsed from exhaustion. I found myself near a farm, so I decided to try my luck there. I came across a barn, where I sneaked in for warmth. A saucer of milk had been left out there, which I helped myself to. I decided this would be the perfect place to curl up and sleep the day away.

Hours passed, then I was rudely awakened by a yowl from the doorway. I jumped and looked round quickly to see who it was yowling. I saw the largest male cat I have ever seen stood in the doorway!

"What are you doing, stealing my breakfast?" he growled aggressively.

I took one look at the huge male cat then scrammed. I didn't want to stick around! There was no way I was going to be able to fight him, considering I was about eight or nine weeks old. The tom cat chased me away before returning to have the remaining milk and eat the food the two-legs had brought out. I noticed there were several more cats about the farm, all living in and around the place where huge creatures lived. Those creatures ate strange smelling stuff called "straw" and all sorts of yucky stuff that I wouldn't touch with the proverbial rat tail.

I tried approaching some of the other cats, but I was scared off when I heard the sound of something banging. The two-legs who banged the "car door" came rushing up with some wet stuff in a bucket and threw it all over me. I shot off and kept running until I couldn't run any more. I came across a large, long shelter on wheels eventually and climbed in to go back to sleep. When I woke up, I felt a motion underneath my paws. I got really wound up when I realised the long shelter was moving. I hid away inside it until it was no longer going anywhere.

The long shelter finally came to a halt. The two-legs who were in it opened the doors and started pulling the two legs scratching posts out. I'd already ripped the back of the settee a little bit and shed my fur on it (that's why it's called fur-niture, it exists for our fur so I learnt later). I waited until the coast was clear before darting out.

I heard shouts from behind me but kept on running. I stood panting for a while from stress once I'd lost the strange two-legs, before I heard another cat.

"What's a little one like you doing without a mum?" chirped the strange cat.

"I got thrown out about a week or two ago" I mewed, then told my tale.

"Come and join myself and my daughter from last season" invited the strange black and white cat.

I set out walking with her, having to jump forward every few steps in order to keep up. Eventually, we came across the edge of the town, where I saw there were several cats. One of them was my new companion's daughter, a young tortoiseshell. I saw another cat trying to join the feral group as well, a black male who would never survive on his own. It was obvious he couldn't see where he was going because he was constantly walking into the other cats and any plants that were around. The young tortoiseshell was the one to tell me how they and the black cat had ended up there. The black and white had been born on a farm and left to stray, the tortoiseshell had been sold from the black and white's litter then thrown out of her home when she was no longer a cute little kitten and the black cat had found his way to the ferals after he was abandoned when he became blind.

We spent our days trying to survive, hunting during the night when the two-legs were all away and hiding away during the day where we could. We didn't stay in one place for sleeping, we sheltered where we could. The huge tabby and his queen friend were the unofficial "leaders" for want of a better way of putting it. The tortoiseshell and her mum were the ones to really look after me though, they made sure I learnt what was food and what wasn't. Through them, I learnt how to scrounge food out of bins.

The tortoiseshell proved to be very active. I hardly ever saw her resting, she usually went out hunting and played with the kittens from the feral group. The black and white and the tortoiseshell taught me all I know, as did the black cat and a big male tabby. I stayed with the ferals for six months, all of us doing our best to survive.

After the first week living with the ferals, I noticed some of them would disappear off for a while, then return with marks on their ears. The large tabby and his best female friend were among the first group to disappear and return, the two-legs had taken them. Within the six months all the other kittens had vanished, leaving me as the one remaining kitten. Most of the ferals had been taken and returned, there were only four of us left who hadn't. As well as me being the only kitten free, the black and white, the black and the tortoiseshell were the others who had not been caught. That was soon to change though.

The morning we got picked up, we'd found a few see-through boxes that had food and water sat waiting for anyone who was hungry to claim it. The tortoiseshell tried robbing the first box but the door closed too quickly. We were too hungry to bother about what the boxes were, so the black and white and I tried robbing them. The black cat walked straight into one without realising what it was. We had to sit in those boxes until we heard a noise. I remembered that noise from when I was abandoned, when my siblings and I were chasing it,only this time the noise was getting louder instead of quieter.

The black and white started panicking when we heard the strange four wheeled thing approaching. I started singing and tried to dig my way out. Next thing we knew there were two-legs getting out of the four-wheel and walking towards us.

"You check those traps and I'll check these ones" the first two-legs said.

At this point the black and white started yowling and hissing as the two legs approached us. The black cat had decided to curl up and wait. The tortoiseshell and I looked at each other as the two-legs took the box with the black and white in then returned for the box with the black cat in. When they came back a third time, I appealed to them to let me out but they took both the box I was in and the box the tortoiseshell was in. The tortoiseshell got motion sick as we were taken away.

Ghost story

Nobody knew why the old house had been empty for so long. All anyone could say for definite was that it was gradually falling into disrepair. Workmen had tried to repair it years ago but for some reason that was generally unknown, they had never returned to finish the work that the house so desperately needed. There were stories flying around all over the place about the old house, whether it was haunted and what by. Some people reckoned a murder had taken place there; others thought there had been an accident there.

Everyone know the road going past there was an accident waiting to happen, in fact there were car crashes there regularly. The common sense explanation was the fact there was a really bad corner there which was the cause of the accidents. Rumour had it the house was haunted or cursed. Most of the accidents (if not all) were either on the driveway of the house; or the exact spot of road that went past the house.

The boys in the nearby school would walk past it nearly every day to and from school. Quite often, the boys would dare each other to enter the building at night. Nobody ever did though, because if anyone entered the grounds, strange noises would start coming from the house.

There was one young lad in particular who, when he passed the house, would look up at the windows of the house as though looking for someone who could no longer be seen. He remembered the one person who'd entered the house to live there, before a Something had driven them out. Nobody knew exactly what it was, they hadn't stuck around long enough to tell anyone what had happened.

The young lad walked past the house on his way to school. It was a Friday, and as usual, he couldn't resist looking up at the window again. He saw something that chilled him to the marrow. The one undamaged room had turned blood red! He could see it through the window. He didn't know what to do - run home, enter the house to see why the room was red, or go to school as though nothing had happened.

He stood there thinking for a few minutes. His friends passed, calling to him, but he remained stood there, thinking. One of his friends broke away from the group to speak to him.

What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost, Peter" his friend exclaimed.

"Maybe I have" Peter admitted. "The room in there is blood red"

"You're seeing things" laughed his friend.

"I'm not seeing things, Tom. Come with me after school into the house" Peter said urgently.

Tom laughed, then challenged Peter to a race.

"Last one to school is a chicken" called Tom, racing off.

Peter sighed, then started running after Tom. They got to school just in time; the teacher had just started calling the register.

"Hurry up and sit down, you two!" she called bossily.

"yes Miss, sorry Miss" Tom and Peter panted together.

Peter heard nothing of the day's lessons; he was too busy pondering. Why was the room red today? Who or what was the something or someone that chased people away from the old house? Were the ghost stories true? He was determined to find out.

He had to wait until school was ended for the day. Tom walked beside him on the way home from school. They spent the whole time discussing school and the old house.

"Maths and French homework again!" groaned Tom.

"I'll help you with the Maths if you want" offered Peter.

"Yes please Peter, we can do it together." said Tom thoughtfully. "I hate Maths" he added.

Peter wasn't litening any more. "I wonder why the room in the house is blood red?" he suddenly said musingly.

"I don't know, why's it so important?" asked Tom.

"I'm just interested" Peter admitted.

Tom didn't answer and they walked the rest of the way home in silence.

Peter returned home and tried the door, which was locked. He then remembered his mum was out at yoga night, so she'd have locked up to ensure thieves couldn't break in. Peter unlocked the door and walked in, then threw his schoolbag into the hallway.

"Anyone home?" he called, not knowing whether he'd got home before his security conscious mother (who never left the doors unlocked whether she was inside or outside) or his really busy father, who was always out at work or some sort of activity with workmates.