Summer Bay Horror Story: The Five Curses

[TelephotoMarigold]

Story Title: Summer Bay Horror Story: The Five Curses
Type of story: Short/Medium Fic
Additional Authors: Zetti and Pembie
Main Characters: Dexter Walker, Nicole Franklin, Geoff Campbell, Aden Jefferies, Alf Stewart, Morag Stewart, Ruby Buckton, Belle Taylor, Indi Walker, Romeo Smith, and others.

BTTB rating: A
Genre: Horror
Does story include spoilers: Maybe
Any warnings: Will warn at the beginning of each chapter if necessary but will contain scenes of horror and supernatural images throughout! You have been warned!
Summary: Storms bring many things. Sometimes they awaken what should stay sleeping. In the small town of Summer Bay there was a house. An ordinary house with an extraordinary history. It alone stood as guardian against the release of the 'Five Curses' that could bring forth the end of the world... until now when the five curses are once again mistakenly unleashed into the world.

 

 

Prologue

 

 

Years ago in a little sleepy hollow called Summer Bay on a dark stormy night where the wind whipped up clouds that raged across the face of the Full Moon there was a house. Built in the 1800's, the house grew as the original settler family grew; they added a bedroom here, a sitting room there until it became a family home. The front porch was painted with mint green paint and the shutters painted white. The house looked ordinary, just like any other family home of the period. The garden matured, first vegetables grew there, feeding the family inside and then later, roses were planted. The best in the district, they flourished in the rich soil. To the side of the house a single vine they could never quite manage to get rid of grew and flourished covering up a wall. This was the house that would be home to many families. This was a house that would see many storms and shelter all those inside of it. This would come to be known as Summer Bay House, the first of many dwellings that came to grow inside the town but ultimately the oldest.


As the town flourished, businesses came and went. A gold rush across the State saw people running after the rich mineral abandoning the town for the promise of riches. But still the house grew. Known now as Summer Bay house, named after the little town that grew around it the house had secrets. Like the hidden cellar in the deep recesses of the house was a small door with brass fittings. It led to the cavernous room underneath the house. Built by the original settles to be a root cellar the darkness stretching out of the corners seemed to envelope all the light. Successive generations became scared to venture below until the entrance was covered up and the cellar forgotten.


Before white men stepped foot on Australia there was Dream Time. No one knows how long dream time was. Months, years, centuries, it made no difference to the Aborigine. That was the basis for their beliefs, their hopes and dreams. The Dreaming established the structures of society, rules for social behaviour, and the ceremonies performed to ensure continuity of life and land. Magic happened during the Dreaming. Magic that no white man had thought even existed. In the Aboriginal world view, every event leaves a record in the land.


And the land that the white man had built Summer Bay house on was cursed.

This night, the night of the wild storm that made the trees dance with the wind and the clouds burst, five teenagers gathered in the house as the storm raged. Alf Stewart, his sister Morag, Donald Fisher, Martha Baldivis, Louisa Megan and Thomas Sunderland. When the power went out they lit candles and stoked the fire in the old fireplace. Talk soon turned to the history of the house and they began to make up ghost stories to scare each other.


When another hour had passed with no sign of the adults returning, they took out tiles from a board game and spread them out on the large maple dining table that was the pride of Alf's and Morag's mother. A glass completed the Ouija board and they began a séance as the house groaned in protest. From the darkest corners of the forgotten cellar a whisper began maybe a warning perhaps, of the danger that lay in the testing the boundaries between the realms of good and evil.


The land shifted underneath the house by millimetres and unsuspectingly the five teenagers unleashed the five curses on Summer Bay.

The curse of the wolf.

The curse of the blood drinker.

The curse of the witch.

The curse of the undead.

The curse of second sight.

None of them spoke of that night. Alf married his sweetheart Martha only to lose her in a strange drowning accident; Morag flirted with a romance with Donald that resulted in a magical child before that child too was lost to them. Louisa and Thomas, the last remaining teens moved out of the Bay not long after that night never to be heard from again.


Now. Years after the curses were first released a storm of equal force and violence crossed over the Bay and the curses were resurrected and unleashed once more.

[TelephotoMarigold]

Chapter One:

Ruby, Dexter, Nic, Geoff, and Aden were seated in the lounge of Roman's former place. Aden and Geoff were supping beers. The girls on wine and Dex was drinking a warm glass of lemonade. Geoff was confused about what the boy was doing there, he wasn't quite one of them, too awkward and he kept quoting Star Wars at inopportune moments. Still he seemed okish.

Ruby was sorta flirting with him which didn't sit right either because they all knew that she was more into Romeo. He grimaced as he thought about the guy who'd trailed into town after Jai's arrival and set his sights on his sister Annie for a while because now when he saw Romeo and Nic together it was like watching, well a couple. Nic denied she had feelings for the guy but he was blond, good looking and so obviously more Nic's type than he would ever be.

"Think that Alf will be down the surf club now?"

Nic nodded at Aden's question just as another boom of thunder crashed outside. With a flicker the lights went out and they were left in momentary darkness before lightening flashed outside.

Clattering came from inside before Aden managed to retrieve and light some of the candles that were dotted around the room. The aroma of roses and sandlewood began to drift around the room too but whether it enhanced the room or not was a question the others would have to answer.

"Do you have any other candles?" Nic asked from her stance at the window having moved there to watch the wild weather out of the window. Something elemental about storms and rain appealed to the wildness inside of her.

"We should do something?" Ruby suggested, "Maybe ..."

"If your suggestion is spin the bottle then ..." Aden interjected his eyes straying to Nic momentarily and then back again.

"Ouija board," Nic said, her eyes not straying from the scene outside the window.

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that," Geoff muttered.

"Scared Bible Boy?"

Aden's mocking voice got to him and Geoff flinched, "No, just those things are dangerous."

"Only in horror movies like 'Witchboard', oh and 'Paranormal Activity'," Dex muttered his voice extra high-pitched.

"Let's do it," Ruby chimed in giving Dex an exasperated look.

Nic moved over to the cupboard and rummaged inside it before she brought out a ratty looking box. Heading over to the table she began to set out the board and placed her finger on the planchette.

"Give me a sign, let me know he is safe from harm," she whispered quietly and looked down at the board. She sighed as nothing happened and then gave the others a look.

With mumbling the others, clumsily in Dex's case, managed to sit around the board and placed their fingers on to the planchette next to Nic's.

Ruby giggled, "Are we asking it questions?"

"Tell me.." Aden began.

"Stop!" Geoff cried, "nothing about Belle ok, if we are doing this then.." he trailed off his voice broken.

Aden paled and flinched back pulling his hand away from the small wooden pointer.

"Maybe I need to know," he whispered.

"We all do," Nic's voice cut through the conversation.

"Not," Geoff choked out, "It's only been five months since she died."

"I have a question," Ruby asserted, her voice becoming more aggressive with each sip of wine she drank.

"Rubes?"

Ruby looked down at her finger on the planchette and gave a small sigh, "Who is my Dad?"

Woken from its slumber in the dark box the Ouija board connected with the other side and a small creaking noise sounded as the plancette moved across the surface slowly creeping towards the letter 'G'.

“Ok that is creepy,” Nic muttered.

“Keep your finger on it,” Ruby cried.

Geoff couldn’t identify the note in the girl’s voice, was she panicking because it seemed to work or because she was about to get an answer to her question. Not that he was thinking this was working; he mocked himself inside his head.

“That’s an R…” Dexter muttered, “A, N…”

“T,” Aden finished, “Grant?” he questioned.

Nic looked at Ruby seeing a strange expression on her face, “Who is Grant?”

“I don’t know, my … Charlie’s never mentioned anyone called Grant before,” Ruby cried out.

“It’s still moving,” Geoff said feeling a shudder run down his back.

“B L E D.”

“Seriously?” Dexter cried out, “As if it isn’t creepy enough that one of you is moving the thing you spell out words like Bled.”

Nic immediately pulled her hand back as did Geoff.

“I’m not doing anything,” Ruby cried at the same time.

All eyes turned to Aden and he took his hand away too just in time to see the plancette moving on its own to the letter C, then to the O and finally back to an E before going to the centre of the board and resting there.

“What does that spell?” Ruby asked in a shaken voice.

“Bledcoe,” Dexter was the one to answer her, “Grant Bledcoe.”

“Is he my father?” She asked as a single tear fell down her face.

A suddenly extra loud clash of thunder outside the windows made rattle and caused all the human inhabitants to jump back, disturbing the board and it tumbled to the floor.

“I think we are done,” Geoff announced reaching for the board and feeling a jolt of static electricity coming from it he pulled his hand back sharply.

“What is it?” Nic asked him her eyes appearing huge in her pale face.

“Nothing,” he shook his head and reached for it again placing the wooden board on the table feeling no shock this time, still he felt uneasy.

Aden bent down and retrieved the planchette and put that back on it. As the five people scattered away from the table none of them saw the planchette moving on its own spelling out the words five curses coming.

[pembie]

This update is from me. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter Two

Underneath its blanket of darkness the great thunderstorm raged on. In Roman’s former home, the house’s windows with their tightly pulled down shutters rattled. The very walls seemed to shiver as the howling moans of the storm driven chilled wind was blown forcedly against them.

Upstairs in Nicole’s temporary bedroom that she’d adopted for the night, the latch on the window had snapped with the force of the wind and become broken. Tap, tap, tap, it sounded as it was caused to blow back and forth with each successive gust.

This tapping noise from her broken window hadn’t stopped Nicole from sleeping in the recesses of the cavernous bed. In fact she was dreaming. Far away beyond the high winds which carried the storm’s whispering ghostlike voices Nicole was experiencing what it felt like to become trapped in a nightmarish world. In her mind she saw under the sliver glow of the full moon some kind of breast like creature, which was howling underneath its shadow. Rooted to the spot the nightmare encased her until she fought her way out unaware that she’d climbed out of the bed and begun a perilous descent down the stairs and out the front door into the storm.

To anyone who might just come upon her Nicole would at first glance look like a ghostly form dressed in her long flowing white night grown. They would also have been pretty concerned that she might have been staggering, one foot lurching forward before the next one lurched forward, arms swinging limply by her sides. This strange manifestation of Nicole was still caught up within a nightmarish world of dreams, still sleeping. Now she was cocooned in a trance like state watching and listening to the sounds of the crashing waves as they tumbled in to rest upon the shoreline.
In her dream state she thought of crashing dragons lurching towards her, of monsters of the deep. Reaching out for her with talon clawed hands.
A slight shake brought Nicole back from the realms of her disturbing dreams. Her eyes fluttered open, the image of a seagull was the first to greet her vision and the ground beneath her felt sandy and soft. The gentle lapping of the waves trickled her toes slightly.

“Nic, Nicole, are you alright? You’re freezing; you haven’t been here all night have you?”

It took a moment for Nicole to home in on who was speaking to her. Her mind was still clouded over with confusion of the dreams she had been experiencing.

An arm went around her shoulder, and now that she was sitting, Nicole was able to take in the friendly but worried looking face of Leah in front of her. She blinked at her before opening her eyes wide.

“Nic?” Leah asked as if waiting for the girl to answer but Nic just stared back at her.
Leah, it was Leah in front of her and there seemed to be something that she needed to know. Nicole wasn’t sure why but it felt like Leah was here for a reason or maybe she was there to speak to Leah in some predestined way.
Either way Leah looked alarmed as Nicole grabbed at her arm and dug her carefully manicured nails into her skin, not that Nic noticed what she was doing. Nic felt that her eyes seemed to go funny, as though they had rolled back into her head. She was unaware that her pupils had disappeared entirely and she was looking at Leah with just blank white eyes.

“LEAH YOU ARE TAINTED WITH THE CURSE OF THE UNHAPPY HEART!” Nicole boomed out in a voice that didn’t sound like hers, “CURSED SO THAT ANY RELATIONSHIP YOU FIND YOURSELF IN WILL BE DOOMED.”

Nic’s blank white stare seemed to take in that Leah nodded her head fiercely as she tried to tug her arm away from Nic’s grip.

“NOT FOR YOU. KEEP AWAY FROM LOVE. KEEP AWAY FROM MILES. IF YOU AND MILES ARE ONE YOU WILL LOSE EVERYTHING. YES. I CAN SEE NOW IT IS TO BE SOMETHING PRECIOUS TO YOU BOTH, UNTIL HE IS GONE TOO.”

Feeling dizzy Nic closed her eyes and swayed letting go of Leah’s arm in the process. She blinked, once, twice and then opened her eyes again. Now without the blank stare, her sapphire blue pupils had returned not that Nic was even aware of that.
She looked at Leah, not noticing the pale expression on the other woman’s face and spoke as if just seeing her, “Hey Leah nice day don’t you think?”

There was no response from the dumbfounded looking woman staring back at her and Nic tilted her head to one side wondering what was going on.
The first curse had been unleashed upon Nicole, the Curse of Second Sight.

[Zetti]

Chapter Three

Aden had something on his mind ever since they used the Ouija board. He just couldn’t let go of the fact that he might be able to contact Belle. Life doesn’t seem to stop for one person. It goes on. Life evolves and changes, you learn to let go of the past and to stop holding onto the things that haunt you but there was one thing that haunted him, one sentence that Belle had told him that he never forgot.

My soul is forever tattooed on yours.

“What if a part of me could reach to her on the other side, could just let myself feel close to her again? Even if it is only for a few split seconds, or moments. Just something? Is that not better than nothing?” he spoke quietly under his breath.

He wasn’t sure if he was actually trying to talk himself in or out of it but he couldn’t deny that he was very curious about the possibilities of talking to Belle could be like.

He could ask how she was, if she was happy and just to tell her how much he loved and sincerely missed her. The tears slowly crept out surprising him, he hadn’t cried over her death for a very long time. It isn’t that he couldn’t cry, he could but crying wouldn’t get him anywhere.

Crying helps to ease pain but it doesn’t stop it. It would be the easiest thing in the world to know that you can just wake up one day and stop hurting.

If only life as that simple. Unfortunately it isn’t, you spend each day taking it one moment at a time until it gets to a point where it doesn’t hurt as much and you stop feeling like you cant carry on.

It had taken Aden a while to get a point where he could hear Belle’s name and smile, instead of curling into a foetal ball or crying and tearing up. He hadn't expected that to happen, coming as a surprise to him but deep down he believed that Belle was the one helping him to come to terms with her passing.

He needed confirmation though. He pulled the covers off and stubbed his toe against the dresser. He cursed under his breath as he navigated his way out of the room and into the hallway to end up at the top of the stairs.

Do I do this? Can I do this? Is this a good idea?

Can I pass up an opportunity to actually speak to Belle? My woman. My life. My world. Everything?

He shook his head to chastise himself and then breathed in and out before he went down the stairs slowly as to avoid waking up anyone else.

He still had niggling doubts in the back of his head but he could not and would not pass up the chance of a lifetime to contact her. He fiddled with his wedding ring and felt a renewed burst of energy that propelled him towards the Ouija board as he set it out on the table. He sat down and breathed in.

He didn’t like the concept of Ouija boards but no more dawdling, he was going to do this.

With a shaking hand he reached for the planchette, it felt strange under his nervous fingers and in a lower than normal voice he asked, "B..Belle are you there?"

There was no response but he breathed in and then asked again.

‘Is anyone there?’ his voice was still shaky but his constant breathing in and out helped to calm him down slightly.

However again there was no response, nothing at all. He inhaled and then exhaled deeply enough to make a little noise and then asked again. ‘Anyone there at all? I just want to talk to my wife, anyone?’

He sighed in frustration but willed himself to try one more time, at least then he could be fully sure that he had tried everything possible.

‘Someone?’ he asked with bated breath, trying and hoping that something would happen, anything at that point would have satisfied him. He needed to know there was hope that Belle was watching over him.

**

“Be careful what you wish for.’’ Whispered an unknown entity.

Meanwhile on the other side of the house the graveyard where thunder and lightning struck causing the town to be ravaged with the sounds of nature. A figure that closely resembles a human being walks past the church and looks up. The expression on his face shows a sliver of fear and understanding.

He bowed his head slightly and carry on walking. The force of nature does not seem to stop them in their tracks. Leaves are being flung across the graveyard and the trees that flank the church are being overwhelmed by the unspeakable power of the gales. The windows threaten to shatter and destroy the beautiful stained glass that adorns the church. The gales start to die down but a few moments later it is back with a vengeance.

Destruction occurs. Church roof tiles begin to slip and shatter as they hit the ground. The pieces bounce further and the bushes near the church entrance are ripped off and fly across the graveyard hitting graves along the way.

Lightning struck the church spire causing small but nevertheless potent sparks to ignite eventually fizzling out to nothing but those sparks caused everything to change. A few mere seconds later the biggest lightning bolt hits the church spire it cracks in half. It starts to slide down the church wall wrecking some trees in the process. Debris is falling and the gales are throwing them across the width of the graveyard.

The next biggest lightning apart struck a few moments later knocked the church spire to the ground. It landed on a few graves, some were old and had been there for years but there were a few open graves ready for the next souls would pass on to the next world. The man stops at a grave that was full before but now was open and empty, there were leaves all over the graves, he hunches down and wipes some leaves away only for the grave to read Susan ‘Belle’ Jefferies.

**

The next day came and went, Aden was alone in the house, the time was creeping past midnight and he was ready to pack it in and go to bed but there was a knock on the door. He frowned but he was too tired so he went to tell them to get lost. He got to the door and unlocked it; he looked at the door before he opened it. Nothing could have prepared him for the sight he saw in front of him.

Belle.

**

[TelephotoMarigold]

Chapter Four

Unaware that events had taken a dark turn for some of the others over past couple of days, Dexter Walker headed out of the hospital after his shift. He was as usual late and being dependant on the bus schedule didn’t help. Some days he did actually manage to coordinate his shifts with that of the attendance of his father, the great Dr Sid Walker but not today, no today he was stuck waiting for the next bus having missed this one by moments. It was dark aside from the full moon that was so bright it looked more like a white spot in the sky than a silver moon.

Just as he thought he’d reached the end of his shift and had grabbed his stuff ready to leave, a man had been rushed in. He’d been rambling about the full moon and as he’d had an animal bite of some kind there had been the usual macabre jokes about werewolves and Zombies. Dex had to admit he felt a strange sent of unease with the conversation as it swirled around him as he helped the man get admitted and treated and with the last of his part done he was finally able to get out of there, trying to put everything he’d just seen out of his head as he’d sprinted to the bus stop.

“Don’t let them get me,” the man ranted as he thrashed on the narrow bed, his arms waving.

“It’s going to be okay,” Dex murmured trying to calm him.

“No no, you don’t understand,” the man thrashed some more breaking free of the hands holding him down as he moved wildly.

He seemed to catch sight of the red tide of blood from the gash on his upper thigh and it caused a complete change in his expression and demeanour.

“Come on lie back down,” Dex told him placing his hands firmly on the other man’s shoulders and pressing them down towards the gurney.

“I’ve been bitten,” he stated in a calm controlled little voice before he stared fixedly into Dex’s face, “when the wolfbane blooms in the autumn Moon,” he muttered.

Dex looked puzzled for a moment before his face cleared, “No, it’s ‘when a man pure of heart,” he muttered.

“Doesn’t matter, I’m…. cursed. I bear the bite of a werewolf.”

He sank back looking pale against the white sheet covering the gurney as it rolled into the emergency room.

“Ok, let’s move him to the bed, on the count of three.”

The lead nurse gave instructions as they lifted him across to the new bed. His blood pressure was monitored and he was hooked up to various machines before they began cleaning the wound in his upper thigh.

“Definitely a bite of some kind,” one nurse whispered out of earshot of the now subdued patient.

“Are you sure?” Dex found himself asking and felt his face flushing as the two fully trained nurses turned and looked at him with identical disdainful expression on their faces, “Of course you’re sure,” he murmured, “Why wouldn’t you be sure.”

Turning away from them before he could make an even bigger idiot of himself he checked the patient for the last time before finishing up his shift.

He couldn’t help but remember the way the patient had become subdued once he’d noticed the bite mark as he stood at the bus stop and that strange rhyme he’d begun to recite. Sure that he’d heard it before Dex wracked his brain as he focused on the words.

“Even a man pure of heart, who says his prayers by night, “ he muttered aloud his eyes straying upwards to the full moon overhead, “Wolfbane, yadda yadda, full moon etc,” Dex said slowly as a shudder ran down his back.

It wasn’t a cool night even with the storm they’d had a few nights back when he’d been ‘trapped’ first at the Surf Club and then feeling like a fifth wheel amongst the others so why did he suddenly feel cold.

Of course being a nurse at the same hospital as his father wasn’t a problem. Of course, he thought resisting the sarcastic tones that his inner voice gave those words. Perhaps it was the events of a few days ago when he’d been on the outskirts of the group that he’d felt the stirrings of unease about his life. Nic and Geoff had been an item. As had Geoff and Ruby. And well there was Aden and Nic. He was single, not really part of their click and it was only that he’d been stranded by the bad weather at the surf club when Ruby had collected a bottle of wine that he’d been included.

He was always labelled the strange one, the nerdy kid into Star Wars and well, Dr Who and er, most Sci Fi if he were honest. The alternate worlds offered more companionship than most of his peer group at the various schools he’d attended. Looking at his watch he groaned aloud, in his self-obsessed musing he hadn’t noticed that the bus was late. As in very late. He’d been stood there an hour and despite the fact that it was nearly always Summer in Summer Bay he felt a sudden chill running down his back.

He could call his Dad, who he knew had the early shift in the morning and wouldn’t be impressed. Indi would be similarly unimpressed at being pulled out of Romeo’s arms which left him with few choices, go back to the hospital or walk home.

In the scrub across the road from him a pair of yellow eyes tracked him as he paced back and forth. A drop of saliva slipped down a jutting canine tooth as the wolf growled softly, the sound resonating through the animal ruffling the silver-hued fur.

Finally deciding, he began the long walk home. The first mile passed in a blur before he began to feel that uneasy feeling again. Like he was being watched, which he told himself was ridiculous because no other idiot would be trailing through the bush at this time of night.

Of course being a nerd was useful at a time like this because he had his light-saber torch in his back pack. The faint yellow glow from it helped him to avoid low hanging branches a few times.

“Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright,” Dex said to himself slowly as the rhyme finally popped into his brain.

Turning slowly on the spot he cast the torch around, the yellow light shining on flowers growing in a small grove. There were no other plants growing around them and that seemed weird but not as weird as when the clouds parted to reveal the full moon above them and they seemed to move. He felt himself hypnotised by the way they swayed, his logical mind putting it down to the breeze, but there was something else going on.

Stepping off the path he stepped slowly towards them and bending down he picked a handful of the blossoms sniffing at the flowers.

Then he heard the growl.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end and he swung about trying to get a pinpoint on the location of the rumbling growl. There were no native wolves in Australia, his brain urgently told him, canis lupus dingo was the largest natural known predator.

Knowledge of this fact didn’t ease his pounding heartbeat as he heard the growl again.

“Ok Dexter, time for you to practice those running skills you honed from all those times you ran from the bullies at school,” he muttered to himself.

He eased back on to the path checking and rechecking where he was in relation to the snuffling noises that seemed to be coming from the foliage behind him before he began to move off. First he paced himself, feeling the need to rationalise his sudden fear and the fact that it was too easy to get lost in the bush. Making sure he kept to the trail, although that would make it easy for whatever was behind him to catch him quicker it was imperative that he didn’t get lost.

Especially as he’d left his ‘Indiana Jones compass watch’ on the side this morning.

He bet that Aden or Geoff wouldn’t get lost in the bush, he scoffed himself.

A huge howl sounded eerily close to him and he gasped at the sudden leap of fear that made his heart rise up into the back of his throat. Not that a human heart could actually do that, he mentally chastised himself before speeding up. Now he was crashing his way through plants and bushes, feeling each breath leaving his lungs in gasps and pants. In the distance he could see the lights of the farmhouse and he felt a sense of relief flooding his system. He was safe.

Risking a look behind him he moaned under his breath as he saw the yellow eyes of the wolf staring back at him. He stumbled like a blonde bimbo in a horror movie and somehow, just like the typical blonde bimbo from that same horror movie, felt his ankle twisting underneath him.

Staggering with the force of the movement he could do nothing but fall backwards to the ground beneath him, not even being able to put his arms out to stop himself. His torch sprang out of his grasp and rolled across the ground before flickering and going out. Even the full moon that was so bright just moments ago was covered once more by dark clouds and there was nothing but the distant lights of the farmhouse to offer any comfort to the prone figure as he tried to scramble away from the encroaching monster of a wolf.

Dexter Walker screamed like a girl as the wolf’s jaws closed around his ankle and he was bitten.

[pembie]

This chapter was written by me and Zetti. Thanks Zetti for helping with the editing of my parts.

Chapter 5

Good and evil, it has strongly been hinted over the centuries that one cannot live without the other. Some believe that evil is only created, so that the warm glow of God can come along to counteract it. Yes it is true that good sometimes has to take a backseat given evils sheer will and dominating need to win, and yes good sometimes does have to count its small amount of defeats against its moral enemy. However most of the time It does come out on top. Evidence of this is often told in those very old folklore tales or stories, which you sometimes hear about.
So when an act of kindest or a chance to accomplish a good deed comes our way we should do our utmost to see it done. No matter if the said good deed is tangled amongst a daunting web of our deepest darkest fears.
Geoff Campbell would have classed himself as someone who was kind, brave someone who would lend a helping hand in a hour of need, Putting his faith into God that everything would turn out good in the end. Summer Bay was a small town with a very close tight net community of people, and it was for this reason that Geoff found himself gobbling down his breakfast cereal as the news of the church’s collapsed spire and fallen roof titles cut through his morning radio hymns service.
“That’s right all you God loving forks of Summer Bay, stay tuned to your Naughty Vicars and Flirtatious Nuns FM for any more developments on this alarming breaking story and we will……..”
Geoff had heard a enough, switching the radio announcer off partway through, he grabbed his jacket from off the sofa, had a quick gulp of milk from his leftover cereal bowl and darted outside into the strange feel that Summer Bay had adapted too, since their seemly uneventful episode with the Ouija board the other night. This was only for Geoff as he had yet to encounter anything odd as of yet.
The town had a odd feeling of dread to it now, that kept creeping upon Geoff as he walked. The feeling that someone or something was with him, watching, waiting, following. Was it his shadow that normal but not so normal looking outline on the tarmac that copied his every movement that was keeping a close eye on him? Or was it down to the way the bitter coldness brushed upon his cheeks that had him so on edge? Geoff couldn’t be sure, but there was something different a feeling of something being very wrong that he just couldn’t put his finger on. The air still lingered of the vicious storm that had come close to destroying the church in its wake of devastation. Which had Geoff questioning what would happen if the heavens decided that they would once again spilt open? Maybe his good deed wasn’t to get to the church to see what he could do to help, but instead maybe it was down to him to build aN ark for when and if another storm hit. But what animals were there in the bay in the need for rescuing? Geoff sure couldn’t think of any a few runaway kangaroos possibly.
The wind had picked up, sometimes making Geoff feel like he was losing his balance, and what if he fell into the waiting arms of his creepy looking shadow? What then if indeed it had become possessed by demons. Would Geoff Campbell be wiped from existence? No of course not, that sort of thing didn’t happen in true reality.
Geoff laughed what next zombies around the next corner to eat at his brains? Geoff shuddered.

Get a grip bible boy Geoff heard Aden call out from somewhere in his mind. Geoff quickly agreed zombies, demon shadow monsters whatever next churches that made you feel uneasy and scared, so scared that you would be fearful to take a single step toward or even inside? Geoff laughed once more it was a nervous laugh one that shocked him. Why would he be nervous? The church was his safe haven his place of peace and comfort now stood before him. It seemed to be calling out to him, welcoming him to its holiness light of worship even with its sorry state of appearance with shattered windows and fallen debris.
Reverend Elijah Johnson smiled and rushed over to him.
“Ah Geoff good we need all the help we can get here”
Geoff looked to Elijah who was gently pressing upon his back as he tried to usher him closer to the church.
“I know Geoff but it looks worse than it really is, this church is made of tough stuff no storm is going to finish her off.” Elijah said giving Geoff a odd look of complexion.
Geoff’s POV
Why can’t I move my feet I seem to have become rooted to the spot I….. Why does it seem as though the church is towering over me why………
“Geoff, Geoff….. Are you ok?”
Geoff slowly edged his gaze away from the sudden monstrous looking church. He could of sworn that where the two angel statues which had always sat next to the front stained glass window had now been replaced by two hideous statues of gargoyles.
“I… where’s the angels gone where?”
“They are there Geoff, sadly the window was destroyed but……..THAT’S WHAT EVIL DOES IT COMES IN THE DEAD OF THE NIGHT AND IT CONSUMES ALL THAT WAS ONCE GOOD.”
Geoff staggered backwards with a scream caught in the back of his throat as the face of Elijah was replaced by the face of the devil.
WHAT’S WRONG GEOFFERY CAT GOT YOUR TONGUE? OH WELL LET’S SEE IF I CAN REACH TO THE BACK OF YOUR THROAT AND RIP IT OUT FOR YOU, HEY I MIGHT EVEN FIND YOUR SOUL TOO.”
Elijah watched as a terrorised Geoff ran half staggering back away from him, as he did so Geoff caught the first sight of many small trails of leaking blood start to run down the church’s stone walls. High pitched screaming of torture from behind the church’s big brass doors filled Geoff’s ears.
“GEOFF, GEOFF COME BACK” was all Geoff heard as he ran from the one place he once called his safe haven.

Geoff found himself on the beach just wandering aimlessly as the beach stretched out for miles.

Why was I so terrified to enter the church? The church that gave me meaning, and gave me a purpose on this earth. Elijah was possessed by the devil! What is going on? This is my worst nightmare come true and I don’t know what to do next.

‘Geoff?’

Geoff turned around slowly to see Nicole walking towards him with her blonde hair flowing in the wind and her blue eyes looking troubled.

‘What’s wrong?’

She shook her head and then sighed. Geoff took her hands in his and made them both sit down on the soft sand of the golden beach.

‘Tell me.’ Geoff asked her but his mind was still preoccupied with the fact that he was not able to enter the church.

‘Things are just odd.’ She replied with a faraway expression on her face.

‘Odd?’

‘Nothing, have you heard from Aden?’ she asked in a bid to get the attention away from her and on Aden.

‘No.’ It dawned on Geoff that he hadn’t actually been in contact with Aden.

‘Maybe we need to go over there?’

‘Yeah let’s go.’ Geoff stood up and felt slightly shaky. Aden’s house was not far from the church and the cemetery. He hoped that it wouldn’t affect him if he was near Aden’s house. The walk to get there was quiet.

‘What’s going on?’ Geoff finally asked when they were near the driveway that would lead to Aden’s house.

‘Aden hasn’t been answering, and its not like him.’

Geoff stopped and put his hand on Nicole’s shoulders forcing her to look at him.

‘Not with Aden, with you.’

Nicole pulled away and strode up to the door. She rang the bell and knocked. Geoff followed and he sighed.

‘Aden? It is Geoff and Nic. Are you there?’

‘Open the door.’ Nicole called out. She peered in the window but she couldn’t see anything. She touched the window pane and felt a gust of air hit her face which made her jump slightly. Geoff was still knocking on the door but there was no answer.

‘He’s not in?’

‘I think he is, but not answering.’

‘Will you please tell me what is going on?’

‘Just please?’

Nicole sighed. ‘Remember the Ouija board?’

Geoff nodded waiting for Nicole to carry on.

‘I haven’t been sleeping since, and it can’t be a coincidence that Aden is not answering his phone. It is connected but I do not know how.’

Geoff just felt like something was weighing him down as he felt the urge to walk away from the house. Something was seriously wrong in this town and he needed to get out. He ran to Irene’s. He ended up in his room crouched down searching under his bed.

The contents of the box, which was kept underneath his bed, contained his bible and after the day he had just been though Geoff was needed some guidance.

After stroking at the brown front cover of it for what seemed to be a lifetime to him, Geoff eased the book of God open to the passage which normally eased away any of his worry or stress. But now the words looked hazy and jumped out at him unfocused and blurry. Like he would need the aid of glasses to read and make sense of them. He had never struggled to read it before. Maybe he was over tired? Geoff closed his bible and let his head fall into his hands.
Maybe saying a prayer would be better? Yes what could go wrong with that nothing silence filled the room as Geoff closed his eyes and started to recite his prayer.
“Nevaeh ni rehtaf ruo
Live morf us reviled tub.
Eman ruoy eb dewollah
Emoc modgnik rouy
Enod eb lliw rouy
Nevaeh ni si ti sa htrae sa htrae no
Daerb yliad ruo yad siht su evig stbed ruo su evigrof dna
Srotbed ruo nevigrof evah osla ew sa
Noitatpmet otni ton su deal dnd
Live morf su reviled tub”
Geoff’s eyes shot open trying to calm himself it let the tears fall what was happening to him not even his prayers were making any sense any more.

[Zetti]

Chapter Six

Ruby sat in a corner booth where she could watch the door and see who was coming in and out of the diner. She fingered the edge of the worn out laminated menu, the seam of the laminate was coming apart and Ruby couldn't help but pull it apart a bit more. She looked at the laminate and rubbed her fingers across the width to see if there were any lumps.

‘Darl, want anything else?’ Irene hovered as she picked up the long since empty coffee cup and plate that had been home to a slice of raspberry cheesecake. Irene juggled the plate and cup in one hand whilst wiping the neighbouring table cleaning with the cloth in the other hand.

‘No thanks, just waiting for Geoff and Nicole.’

‘No worries darl, give me a shout if you need anything.’ Irene smiled as she greeted another customer at the counter and acknowledged them.

Ruby’s eyes darted from the door to the table several times before she gave in and got her iPhone out of her pocket. She slid her finger across the screen to unlock it and pressed the messages app in the top left hand corner. She clicked the new message icon in the top right hand corner and began to compose a message to Geoff and Nicole.

In diner how long till you get here? Rubes x

She clicked send and then pressed the power off button and placed her phone on the table in front of her so she could see if and when they replied to her. Her phone vibrated a few moments later to let her know that there was a response.

On the way, we will be there soon. Nic x

She sighed and placed her phone back into her pocket and drummed her fingers on the table causing a few people to tut at her but she didn't notice it at all. Her mind was too busy trying to figure out what was going on.

Geoff is not acting the same, I haven’t seen him anywhere near the church for a while now and Nicole has been acting odd for a while as well. It all seemed to happen very quickly. It does not make sense and well Aden has just disappeared off the face of the earth.

‘Hey Rubes.’ Nicole spoke as Ruby was shook out of her daydream figuratively not literally.

‘Hey, is everything okay with you?’ Ruby asked noticing the dark circles under Nicole’s eyes unsuccessfully hidden by makeup.

‘Yes, you?’

‘It’s fine, where’s Geoff?’

‘Talking to Irene. why did you call us here?’

‘I wanted to know what was going on. you, Geoff and Aden have been acting weird for a while now.’

‘We’re fine.’ Nicole plastered a smile on her face which didn’t go unnoticed by Ruby but internally it was a different story altogether.

Geoff joined them at the table and sat on the chair with his back straight as a ramrod. His eyes had faint yellow circles underneath and he looked like he hadn’t slept in days. The twitch in his body as he swayed from side to side had Ruby convinced that there had to be something sinister going on.

‘Geoff everything okay?’ Ruby enquired ignoring the glare from Nicole in his direction. Geoff began to tap his fingers impatiently against the table and slightly rocking his chair back and forth. Ruby watched as Nicole grabbed his hand and gave him a glance that was unreadable. They were both acting very shifty and her annoyance levels were reaching breaking point.

‘I’m fine, just haven’t slept properly lately.’

Ruby scoffed and then shot them both a look filled with disdain and annoyance causing Geoff to look at Nicole and Nicole to look at Geoff.

These two are clearly lying to my face, I swear they both think I am an idiot. I am supposed to be their friend but they are both treating me like I am stupid.

‘I know something is going on, I know you’re hiding something, I thought I was your friend?’ Ruby asked adding a slightly higher tone to her voice that came across nasally but she didn’t care.

‘You are!’ Nicole emphasised as she placed her hands on top of Ruby’s but Ruby pulled her hands away.

‘Prove it, tell me what is going on?’

‘Nothing.’ Nicole replied as her hands were fidgeting. Ruby saw her rub her hands on her thigh, momentarily stopping at her wrist and then shaking herself and looking up.

Ruby scoffed as she stood up and picked up her bag slinging onto her shoulder.

This is a losing battle, neither of them are going to tell me what the hell is going on, so maybe I will have to do this all by myself. Some friends they are!

‘Yeah, clearly, you cant even look me in the eye whilst you’re talking to me. If you wont tell me, fine, but don’t lie to me.’
Geoff and Nicole exchanged a glance but Ruby had already left the table. She huffed with frustration as she walked past them. Her mind was racing. Her hands felt cold and clammy as she rubbed them against her dress.

I need to find out what is going on. Geoff and Nicole don’t seem to trust me. Aden is not around. Who else can I talk to? Who can I ask for help? I need to know what is going on. The suspense is irritating me now.

She pulled her phone and slid her finger across the screen to unlock it. She went to her contacts list and scrolled down until she found Dex.

Oh of course! Dex! He will want to help, he loves investigating odd things. Maybe that is because he is slightly eccentric and quirky himself!

**

‘I’m working!’ Dex huffed as he scribbled on the patients record and then placed it back on the end of the bed. He shuffled Ruby out of the room.

‘Dex..’ but he cut her off with a hand which signaled for her to stop talking.

‘I’m working.’ He repeated but Ruby looked tired of hearing that word so she put her hands on her hips. They both stared at each other until Dex was beckoned by a nurse. He hurried off grateful from a reprieve; he was close to agreeing to listen to Ruby.

She can’t find out about the bite, she just can’t. Ruby would never understand. They will think I’m barmy!

‘A coffee? You can just listen to what I have to say?’

Dex sighed.

I can’t deny that I do want to know more about what is going on; maybe she knows why I was bitten or can help me work it out.

‘Please?’ Ruby fluttered her eyelashes at him

Dammit I hate it when she does that, I can’t resist it!

‘Fine, I will meet you in the canteen in 10 minutes for my lunch, okay?’

She nodded and walked away from him.

‘The other direction!’ Dex said as Ruby turned around and smiled sheepishly walking back the way she came and went around the corner.

**

Armed with a coffee and a ham sandwich, Dex sat with Ruby in the corner of the canteen, she was nursing what looked to be a cup of coffee.

‘So what is going on?’ Dex asked after he had taken a bite out of his sandwich.

‘Have you noticed Geoff and Nicole’s behaviour lately?’

Dex shook his head at her and then frowned ‘What happened?’

‘They are acting shifty. Also Aden has just disappeared off the face of the earth.’

Dex looks at her.

This is all odd, this only started with the night in that house. The Ouija board.

‘What you thinking?’

Dex shook himself out of his head. ‘Nothing sorry, just trying to think why.’

‘The church has been destroyed by some freaky storm, and Geoff is acting seriously odd’

‘Geoff is odd and I say that even though I am totally weird too.’

She smiled at him but then frowned ‘this is not the same, he’s just like totally closed off.

‘So Nicole and Geoff are being shifty, Aden is in his room pretending like he doesn’t exist. Has anything happened to you?’

Dex stopped eating and placed his sandwich back on his plate. He looked at her trying to judge whether or not he should tell her.

‘What?’

‘Okay I’m going to show you something, please don’t freak out.’

Ruby nodded tentatively as Dex lifted his shirt and showed her the red bite mark on his hip.

Her eyes widened as Dex dropped his shirt down. Moments passed with silence despite the background hubbub of a normal canteen.

Ruby looked at him with wide eyes depicting her shock. Moments passed without a response from either of them, the hustle and bustle of the canteen just faded into oblivion.

‘How did it happen?’ came her hushed response.

‘A patient bit me.’ Dex said which was his default response and also what he told his father when he saw it.

Dex noticed her look of disbelief and rose her eyebrows at him.

Should I tell her? I have wanted to talk about this since it actually happened.

‘Dex?’

‘I was bitten.’

‘Yes but how?’

‘Does it matter?’ Dex replied pointedly

‘Seriously?’

‘Fine, I was bitten by a wolf.’

Silence fell, everything was irrelevant, Dex swore he could feel Ruby’s heart quicken but he said nothing.

‘We need to talk to the rest of them, something is not right here.’ Ruby announced.

Dex nodded as he drank his water.

This situation does not make any sense. I was bitten. Geoff and Nicole are being weird, what the hell is going on? It is like a curse has befallen the bay, and the damage is going to change Summer Bay forever!

**

[TelephotoMarigold]

Chapter Seven

Indi Walker had forgiven her husband a lot of things. Hooking up with Ruby was one of them. Perhaps the biggest of them, she hoped. But now wasn’t about that, it was about spending time with him. Working on their relationship.

“It’s nice here isn’t it?” Romeo asked slowly gesturing with his hand to the secluded beach he’d brought her too.

“It is, but a little chilly.”

Romeo smiled over at her, one of his smug little grins and she knew what he was thinking but no way was she going to be getting romantic with him on this beach, for one thing sand got everywhere and she did mean everywhere and for another the full moon above them in dark night sky may look romantic but it offered them no coverage from prying eyes. She did not want to be caught frolicking on the beach not if it meant another lecture from her dad.

“I can keep you warm if you like…”Romeo leered at her.

“Keep your hands to yourself, thank you very much!”

She hopped up and sprang towards the waves splashing through the surf before diving into them. Without looking she knew that Romeo had followed her and before she could stop him he dunked her under the water.

“Urgh…” she cried out.

“Got you!” He murmured triumphantly.

Indi pushed the hair out of her eyes and glared at him.

“I’m so going to kill you!”

“Going to have to catch me first….” Romeo grinned, shooting his usual cheeky smile at her.

They began to play tag amongst the waves, laughing as they chased each other and splashed like kids. Breathing heavily Indi stepped out of the surf and collapsed on to the beach quickly followed by Romeo who fell to the sand beside her. As he reached out and gently pushed her hair back from her face she heard a lone wolf howling in the distance.

“That’s odd,” she commented before Romeo lowered his head and kissed cutting off what she was about to say. More kisses followed and the chain of thought that was telling her there were no naturally occurring wolves in Australia slipped away.


The wolf sighted its prey. It smelt them on the breeze, their scent interesting and repulsive at the same time. Watching from the shadows the wolf lurked in the darkness waiting for the exact moment it would lunge and strike at the couple. First it would hobble them, although the chase of prey was an exciting challenge there was two of them. Taking out the stronger one first, it would allow him time to concentrate on the other one, the weaker one. It could take its time then, run the prey into the ground, enjoy the chase.

The wolf felt its hackles rise as it took in the surroundings, the prey in front of it, the sea crashing in on the shore. Something else was out there, something downwind of it. Its nose twitched as it tried to get a scent, a trail to track. Something like it was out there, something powerful. Looking, peering through the darkness the lone wolf turned its head before looking up at the bright silver orb above it and opening its fierce jaws it howled out a lonely cry seeking something in the dark.

The presence it felt disappeared, just the merest hint of a scent on the wind leaving it to concentrate on its prey on the beach below.
Padding softly down the cliff path it crept along the shadows, head down, yellow eyes on the prey. On the kill. Its prey even unaware that it was there.

Indi pulled back from Romeo and anxiously looked around.

“What is it?”

She flinched at the sound of his voice and rubbed at her arms feeling suddenly cold.

“We need to go home,” she muttered her eyes peering through the darkness around them.

“Relax babe, there is no one here,” Romeo insisted.

The appeal in his voice would normally have her sinking back into his arms but she felt uneasy, like they were being watched. All she wanted was to get her things and go home regardless of seeming like a killjoy.

“Let’s go up the beach where it’s more secluded,” he suggested.

“Yeah, maybe,” Indi muttered as she got to her feet and began to move up the beach.

In the sky above them, dark clouds drifted across the face of the silver moon and cast them in darkness. She heard a growl from behind her and sprung around about to tell Romeo that he wasn’t funny when the wolf sprang forward, fur, paws, and teeth flying.

She screamed as the first bite broke through the skin of her ankle. Tendons snapped and she fell forward unable to bear any weight on her injured foot. A second and third bite followed leaving her in shock. She cried out to Romeo but when the moon came back into view she saw the wolf, silver fur ruffling in the wind, tearing out Romeo’s throat before howling.

Dragging herself along the beach she knew her only chance was to get to her bag and call for help and maybe she could use something out of there as a weapon. She saw the wolf padding around her, circling and cried out her fear.
She made it to the bag, hobbling across the beach half lurching and half crawling, her hand reaching inside the bag when the wolf struck again. She threw her free arm up to ward it off recoiling when it bit her arm, its big paws scratching at her.

She screamed again. Her last sound on this earth.



Alf Stewart walked along the beach, his favourite fishing pole in one hand and a bucket in the other. The sun shining into his room through the small window had woken him extra early and he’d decided to use the time to sneak in a little fishing. Grabbing his things he headed down to this small cove, not many of the tourists knew about this spot and he liked it that way. That it somehow meant that Summer Bay was still special in some way.

As he walked down to the water’s edge he felt a prickle of unease. Like something was nagging at the back of his mind. The normal white foam of the water was pink and he frowned at that wondering what could have caused it. He stopped wondering when he almost tripped over the mauled body of Romeo Smith.

“Oh my god,” Alf cried out.

Dropping the bucket and fishing rod he clutched at his chest feeling a sharp shooting pain down his left arm.

“Not now,” he muttered as though he could stop a heart attack with mere words. Sinking to his knees he pulled out his phone and dialled seeking help. He just managed to gasp out where he was and the words heart attack when he collapsed unconscious.

[pembie]

Hope you enjoy Happy New Year

Chapter 8

It was late afternoon and the outstretched claw like branches of several low hung trees reached, casting themselves out as long looming shadows over many heads of mourners. Raindrops had started to fall christening the two brown oaked golden braced handled coffins. Thunder rumbled so loudly that any cries of sadness or of despair went unnoticed.

“We are here today to say goodbye to Indigo Walker and Romeo Smith. They were taken from this world far too soon, and we will miss them. Step forwards to pay your last respects as their coffins are lowered and become one with the earth.

Sid Walker stepped forwards hugging his daughter Sasha, who’s tears were falling openly.

Dexter Walker had chosen to stand with the rest of what he was beginning to deeply worry were soon to be known as The Summer Bay’s Cursed Souls Club. The tears he witnessed within Nicole’s eyes he was almost certain were not just of upset and sadness, But that of deep frightened concern. Geoff was far worse though he looked liked the church itself was weighting him down making him look like he wanted to flee. Given the pain expression of fear had been there hidden within his mask of sadness He had been very jumpy too, jumping at the slight cough or the slightest sniffle.

Dexter looked to the sky, it was getting dark already. Once darkness came the yellowish glow of the moon would shine. Then the beast would be awoken and its true nature of terror would then be unleashed.

“Hey guys wait up”

Ruby turned to grasped hold of Dexter to save him from the embarrassment of tripping and becoming in tangled in amongst the roots of a large haunted looking tree.

“Oh Dex I’m so sorry about what happened to Indi” Ruby said as she pulled Dexter along within the falling sheets of the deafening rain’s downpour.

“If it wasn’t for the hurt of losing his sister Dexter might have enjoyed getting dragged along by Ruby. He might have even thought of it as being something close as romantic. Geoff and Nicole had already disappeared far into the distance.

“Geoff said he and Nic were heading to the Diner, do you want to come?” Ruby asked turning around. Her light brown hair glistening wet hair whipping her into her pretty face.

“Yeah sure I have something I want to run passed by you guys anyway” Dexter answered gazing upwards to the sky, where the moon was starting to cast itself through the watery mist of nightfall.

“There you go Darls” Irene said placing the four creamy flavoured milkshakes in front of the four worried looking teens.

“I’m so sorry about Indi and Romeo I just hope that Charlie can catch whoever killed them.”

Irene then left them to vacantly stare at the few rising bubbles of their frosted milkshakes

“Er guys we have problem here I think” Dexter all but announced into the silence which inhabited their own private bubble of worried concern.

Geoff took a quick intake of air.
Nicole’s tired eyes fluttered open as she struggled to stay awake. The dreams that had been visiting her were beyond nightmarish. Her desperate wishes of need to make herself stay awake she was finding were just beyond her reach.

Ruby was the only person to pay Dexter’s words her full attention.

“What is it Dex, is it about Indi and Romeo?”

“They died from being attacked by a large animal. I don’t know why I know this but…..”

“Dex we don’t know how they died yet” Ruby said gently reaching across the tables shiny surface to take his hand.

“Mark my words that’s what the autopsies will say”

“Did you see them being attacked? Have you been having dreams Dex?” Nicole suddenly said as she seemed to snap from being in her sleepy daze.
Now it was Dexter’s turn to breathe a sharp intake of air.

“No I………well no…..”

“I have I seen it I’m not sure if it was while I was dreaming or not. It’s like a very faint image, a forgotten flash of memory like a dusty old photograph. But somehow I knew it was going to happen.” Nicole finished looking around to see if any of her three friends were gazing opened mouthed, and thinking she had just jumped abroad the train destined for the cuckoo land of madness.

“Are you saying that you have visions of what is happen?” Ruby asked, Nicole nodded as Geoff laughed.
“If you think that’s mad I’m afraid to go near a church I never used be.”
“Dex is there anything strange happening with you at all?” Ruby asked.
“No but then again I could be wrong there is after all a full moon tonight.”

Dexter Walker has always been a huge fan of Science Fiction movies. The only one to come close to ever terrifying him has been Stephen King’s Christine. The very thought that the car that you just happened to be driving could develop its own mind and take control as really been a fear of Dexter’s ever since he was a little kid. Indi used to laugh at him and say “Well can you imagine if that happened with the Enterprise from Star Trek?” Dexter answered her by say that the Enterprise was just make believe. But with the invention of the Google car to hit the public market eventually the movie Christine could all but become a true reality.

Dexter stroked a dust streak from the door frame of Indi’s little red car. He had gone home to do some research on the internet about the five curses. Now it was time to go pick up Sid and Sasha from Romeo and Indi’s wake at the surf club, Dexter had agreed that he and the Walker family would all go out for pizza given Sid was too knacked to cook at a hot stove.

Dexter now sat nervously behind the big bulky steering wheel of the small car. It took a few go’s at trying to adjust the seat back until Dexter could stretch his legs out comfily enough for him to reach the brake petal. He then pressed the car’s ignition start button the sound of the engine roared into life.

The darkness had fallen within the school’s library, and Ruby was all alone. The mice that clattered their tiny feet across the loose floorboards were her only company. The thunder rumbled the lighting bolts lit up the dark dust filled shelves of books for her to see.

But Ruby didn’t know what to search for. The Five Curses could have been in existence long before books and the people who had fallen victim to them before could have been to scared to write about them. Either that or they might have ended up dead before getting a chance to put their pen to paper. Ruby rubbed at her tired eyes and yawned. Within in her tired state she was sure that she could see a brown covered tatty book with yellowish pages begin to float down towards her. This did not seem to scare her though Ruby’s mind seemed to want to call out to the book to tell it to come closer.

“Closer, Closer” Ruby heard her voice saying. The book floated down and rested itself upon the desk. Ruby then opened the book but not with her hands, no there was no need when one can just make things happen with the use of ones mind. Why was it now she was discovering that she had this power? Why couldn’t she have controlled Romeo like this when they were having their fling? Things could have been much more kinky in the bedroom if she had.

The pages turned slowly and then began to speed up as Ruby’s mind grew with wonder for the books contents. Her mind seemed to know when and where it wanted the old pages to stop.

The picture hit her like a truck. Underneath the picture were the words Summer Bay’s house year 1800 The picture was that of four people, a family dressed all in Victorian clothing A man, a woman and two children one a boy and the other a girl nobody in the photo was smiling. By the look at the family in the photo it wasn’t hard for Ruby to realise that these people must have been the original owners of the house, now known as Summer Bay’s House where Ruby and her friends had gathered to messed about with their Ouija board.

The family sold their home when they claimed that they were cursed, the land on which the house was built was a gateway for cursed souls. Whoever lives there beware.

Ruby started to feel very uneasy as her phone rang in her pocket of her hot pants.

Nicole was sweating as she ran, her ghost white nightgown floating gently behind her. Dexter had been in a car that she was sure of. She had seen the car go crashing over the edge of the cliff at Stewart’s Point. Dexter’s body had been mangled by the hard hitting and ragged sharp edges of the rocks, and he was no longer destined for this world
“Ruby its Nic Dexter’s in danger we have to meet.”
“Where are you Nic?” Ruby jumped as Nicole banged her fist heavily against the window of the library.

“How did you know I was at the library?” Ruby asked as they neared the edge of the cliff at Stewart’s Point.
“I dreamt it, or seen it, or whatever. I know what you can do Ruby with your mind and we can save Dex I know we can.”

Dexter’s panicked face of horror could be seen through the windscreen as Indi’s car ventured closer to the cliff face.
“Ruby now before its too late” Nicole screamed.

Dexter couldn’t have told anyone what had happened to the car The Sat Nav computer system had just seemed to give the car it’s very own brain and taken control over Dexter’s commands.

Dexter was now looking over the edge of the cliff and next thing he knew he wasn’t. he was hovering over to where Ruby was stood.

“I always told Charlie my mind was clever” Ruby said smiling.

The car meanwhile had plunged itself over the cliff’s edge

“Guys I think we are in some serious danger. I think these curses might just end up killing us Dexter said worriedly, as Ruby placed him gently down upon the soft grassy verge.

[Zetti]

Apologies for the delay, it is finally here..

Chapter Nine

‘Is there anyone that I can call for you, Mr Stewart?’ he heard the nurse say as she checked his blood pressure. He gritted his teeth as the cuff tightened and causing his body to tense and wince as it had done the numerous times since being admitted for his heart attack.

‘My sister, Morag.’

‘Sure, I will go ahead and phone her, have you got her contact details.’

‘My sister, Morag.’

‘What are her contact details?’ came her gentle voice that only seemed to rile him up even more.

‘I don’t flaming well know!’ he growled causing the nurse to roll her eyes as if she was dealing with a young child having a tantrum.

‘Alright don’t worry I’ll find the details.’

He watched as she took the blood pressure cuff off his arm, which caused him to sigh in relief and jotted down the information on the chart that hung on the foot of the bed he was currently laying in.

‘Another nurse will be in soon to give you your medication.’ her voice drifted off into silence as he closed his eyes.

‘Hmph.’

He could feel himself drifting off back to sleep as he had been doing before the irritating nurse accosted him to take his damn blood pressure. Ninja nurse, he called her. It felt like no time had passed at all but evidently a considerable amount of time must have passed as
He could feel a thud on the floor but ignored it, he wanted to drift off into the darkness that sleep provided him.

A temporary reprieve from reality also known as life.

‘Well well Alfred, you finally went and did it.’

Alf slowly opened his eyes and blinking as he adjusted to the light that seemed to be intent on blinding him.

‘Morag?’

‘Who else is it going to be?’ she scoffed.

‘The fairy godmother if I had my way.’

He’s losing it, must be the drugs he’s on.

‘Someone has used it again.’

Yes, definitely drugged up.

‘Used what?’

I might as well indulge him.

‘The Ouija board.’

He must be losing..wait what? Did I hear that right!!?

‘What you talking about Alfred?’

He saw her fidget with the ring on her finger whilst staring at him in disbelief as if she didn’t know what to say or whether she believed him or not.

My fingers are all cold and clammy now, resisting the urge to wipe them on my sleeve. Alfred cannot know what I am thinking, he just cannot.

‘The Ouija board. Weird thing have been happening and I think someone has been using the board.’

‘Rubbish! Who could be using it? No one in their right mind would use one.’

‘We did.’ Alf pointed out as he coughed violently. Morag rolled her eyes.

‘In the 1970’s everyone was doing it, now they would not’ she asserted.

‘Are you sure, they’re doing everything these days, those drugs and whatnot.’

‘Where did you even leave it after we last used it?’

‘In the Summer Bay House I’ve never thought to look at it since we used it.’ Alf closes his eyes in a bid to rid him of the cold chill that flew through him giving him goosebumps. The night that he last used the Ouija board something dreadful happened. He had no desire to revisit any of the events that happened in the subsequent nights and days that followed.

‘I can’t imagine anyone using it though.’

‘Someone has used it, go and check it out.’ His voice came out forcefully despite the fact that he felt like someone had battered all the strength out of him.

‘Fine, but I still think you’re crazy.’

Alf closed his eyes as Morag sighed and left the hospital room.

**

This place does not look any different since I was last here. At least the place is empty now so I can get in and out.

She let herself in through the kitchen door though the kitchen was not even a room in itself, rather just a small corner off the main living area.

She manoeuvred herself through the doors to the stairs and walked to the cupboard under the stairs, which had been covered by a wood panel, which no one knew about apart from herself and of course Alf. She slowly prised it off and opened the cupboard that was empty.

If a few things weren’t there, that’s fine, but its empty, that is just bizarre. Alf must be right; someone has been using the Ouija board.

‘Hello?’ Morag hears a sound and closes the cupboard; she straightens up and covers up the cupboard which isn’t hard. She slowly pushes the wood panel back on and turns around to see Colleen appear in the doorway.

‘Morag!’

‘Colleen’

‘When did you get back?’

‘I saw Alfred earlier in the hospital.’

‘Oh yes, poor thing.’

‘He’s fine, just resting up now.’

‘Do you need anything?’

‘I just came to see him. What has been happening?’ Morag decided to ask to see if anything bizarre had been occurring recently. She had to admit she was concerned Alf was right.

Though do not tell Alfred that, he’ll never let me live it down.

‘The church has been destroyed, it’s the most terrible thing!’ Colleen cried out but Morag was no longer listening, the news just delivered made her certain that someone has been messing about with the board.

‘I have to go Colleen, can you lock up?’

‘Sure, bu—‘

**

“Deus animae tuae misereatur, Deus animae tuae misereatur, Deus animae tuae misereatur.’

‘Geoff?’

“Deus animae tuae misereatur, Deus animae tuae misereatur, Deus animae tuae misereatur.’

‘Geoff, what happened here?’

She notices that he is muttering under his breath.

What is he saying to himself? What the heck has happened?

‘Geoff, can you tell me what happened?’

He’s out of it, he won’t be able to tell me anything.

‘Geoff, pull yourself together and tell me what is going on!’ she puts her hands on his shoulders and forces him to look at her.

He pushes her off his shoulders and carries on muttering away to himself, Morag notices that he keeps on muttering away without even acknowledging anyone. He then stalks off in the opposite direction where she follows.

**

The diner is quiet when Morag slips inside, she'd been following Geoff there and saw him sitting in a booth towards the back as though away from the bright light of the day. Forsaking what would have been her normal seat when she ventured inside the diner she chose a seat that was within earshot of the group. Ruby sitting next to a subdued Dex opposite Geoff who still seemed to be muttering under his breath and then the door opened and a distracted looking Nicole strode in. She joined the group and their voices mingled as they spoke quickly. Asking about Aden. The missing member of this collective. Aden was the one she needed to find.

I need to talk to Aden, perhaps he is the key to explaining everything.

She steps out of the diner waving to Leah and making her way to the beach where she miraculously has some phone signal. She phones Alf.

‘Alfred.’

‘Morag. Have you found the board?’

‘Its gone.’ She replied bluntly and then added on ‘I think that Geoff, Nicole, Ruby, Dex and Aden know more than they are saying.’

‘Geoff has been acting weird.’

‘He is, I am going to find Aden, apparently he has not been around for a while. I’m sure he is the key to unlocking what really happened.’

‘alright alright! I have to go, nurse wants to kill me again.’

‘Bye Alfred’ Morag chuckles as she hangs up the phone.

**

‘Belle, come on, I have something to show you.’

The only response is a growl as she edges slowly towards him baring her teeth. She gnarls at him and he gulps in fear.

There was no human response; just a low sounding growl coming from her lips, before she bared her teeth and snarled at him, He could feel cold shudders shaking his frame as he slowly backed away in fear. This Belle, this snarling frightening creature with matted hair and staring unfocused eyes was not the Belle he'd married. This Belle who snapped at him, who reached for him with gnarled twisted cold fingers was not the beautiful Belle he'd stood beside and promised to love forever.

Aden grasped her arms and had to manoeuvre her so that he could lift her over his shoulders just to make sure that she couldn’t bite him. She hissed and wriggled a lot but with some tricky steps, he managed to get in the back room and locked the door. He sighed to himself as he put the key in his back pocket and got himself a cold drink from the fridge.

Only a few moments later and he heard the door. He opens it to see Geoff, Nicole; Ruby & Dex bundle in to the kitchen.

‘What you all doing here?’ Aden asked hoping that he could get rid of them as soon as is earthly possible to avoid them seeing Belle.

‘We need to talk’ Ruby asserted as Nicole nodded and pinched an apple from the fruit bowl.

‘About?’

Silence was shattered by the screeching howl that shook the windows of the house and made them flinch. Each of them turned and looked at Aden, seeing horror reflected on his face, although they had similar expressions. Whatever hell they were going through it was nothing compared to Aden's hell. To whatever had made that ungodly sound.

‘Yeah.. about that..’

He picked up the remote which he pointed towards the monitor to show the room that he had locked Belle in.

The silence was deafening as no one had any words to speak. The resounding knock that came had them all jumping out of their skin but Aden quickly recovered and turned off the monitor before Nicole opened the door.

‘What the hell have you lot done?’ Morag demanded.

No one had any answers.

**