Home Sweet Home

collided with her.
*****
The followingday, after school, they took a walk out along the main village roadto the house. It was a bright evening and the house looked ascheerful as ever. They had hoped that they could scoot past quicklywithout being seen, but Mrs Smith was weeding the front flowerbedsand she called across to them. They dutifully trudged across theroad to her and after a brief chat Ben suddenly blurted out
“Are any of the houses along here empty?”
Mrs Smith didn’t give any sign that she thought it a strangequestion and just flicked her head left and right and said “No,they’re all fully occupied along here, after all, its such a lovelyspot you wouldn’t have houses standing empty for long wouldyou?”
They finallymanaged to escape by saying that they had to get back for theirsupper and as they walked, Ben scrutinised each house frontcarefully and just as Mrs Smith had said, each and every one lookedproperly cared for and lived in.
In the daysthat followed, the events of that night kept going round and roundin Bens head like a nightmare that wouldn’t fade and he discussedit over and over with his sister, but she seemed to be more andmore putting it down to an over active imagination. In factsecretly she felt that he had most likely made up the story just totry and scare her.
A Couple ofweeks passed and Ben had finally had enough. Jackie clearly nolonger believed him and his desperation to prove her wrong exceededeven his considerable trepidation at revisiting the scene of histerror and so one evening they set off together.
As they walkedapprehensively along the lower village road towards their goal, afine crescent moon hung low in the evening sky and smiled down onthem. This briefly cheered them up, but the harsh sound of thecrows circling high in the trees a couple of fields away sentshivers through them both and when a bat flitted past their facesthey stopped altogether and almost turned back. Their well ofcourage was almost dry.
Jackiewhispered, “Come on, this is silly; let’s go back now. I’m reallyscared.” Ben wanted, with all his heart, to comply with her requestbut some stubbornness within him refused to give up. Perhaps it wasthe thought that he might never dredge up the courage to do thisagain and so he just had to go on with it, so he tried to consoleher. “I know it’s scary Jackie, but lets just carry on a bit. Afterall, we’ve come this far and we can give up anytime we want to, solets go on a bit further and see what we can discover.”
After somereluctance, Jackie agreed and they got to the fence with the AppleTree behind it. It only took a few seconds for Ben to find theloose boards and they both crept through and then crouchedmotionless behind the shrubs at the bottom of the garden. The airabout them was completely still and the garden was thick with thefragrance of flowers. The rear of the house was ahead of them inthe evening gloom and Ben was quite sure that this was the verysame garden that they and their parents had visited some 6 weeksbefore. The large apple tree was unmistakable and the shape andlayout were just as he remembered. He whispered right into hissister’s ear “This is the right house isn’t it?”
“Yes, I’m sure it is. Everything looks just the same.”
This time,instead of heading straight across the lawn, they skirted theborders, stopping frequently, hearts pounding, until they cameclose enough to see that the windows were empty of glass and thedoor was hanging off its hinges just as Ben remembered. Somehowthis had a calming effect on him because it proved that he wasn’tmad and that Jackie would have to believe him now. For her ownpart, Jackie just wanted to flee back to the safety of the road onthe other side of the fence, but by a collective force of will theycrept forward and peered through a window. It was just as Ben haddescribed it and looked unbearably spooky in the almost totaldarkness. “Lets go inside” said Ben. The words struggled to make itout of his dried out mouth. Jackie just shook her head and so Benwhispered “Wait there then while I go and have a look.”
She watched ashe disappeared through the door and she could hear the sharp cracksof splintering glass as he crossed the room. She was certain thenoise would be heard and that someone would come to investigate, soshe kept her body primed to sprint straight across the lawn tosafety. Through the narrow door opening she could see thesilhouette of Ben and in a burst of shock she realised that he wasstanding in a pool of light. He had crouched right down and waslooking though the partially opened door to the front room of thehouse. He briefly glanced back towards her and then, keeping low tothe floor he crept forward into the room and out of her sight. Afew seconds passed, during which every sense in her body strainedto pick up the slightest movement, or sound, from within thecrumbling walls of the house. Her entire body vibrated with thetension of the moment and then she heard Ben scream.
Jackie’s heartflew straight out of her breast and she sagged against thecrumbling wall of the house in a dead faint. The next thing she wasaware of was being half dragged across the lawn while shedesperately tried to fend off her attacker with feeble motions ofarms and legs - the most she could manage through the paralysis ofher terror. Then she was lying still, gazing into darkness and afuzzy shape appeared before her, which slowly coalesced into thefrenzied features of Ben, her brother. “Jackie, Jackie” he sobbed,shaking her wildly. “Please wake up, we’ve got to go.”
But his voicestuttered to a stop and he was gazing up at something. Jackieslowly turned her head, and was dazzled by a piercingly brightlight that was shining straight into her eyes. She partiallyshielded her face with her hand and with an audible gasp shefinally made out the familiar shape of