Magic dust - short story

STRANGE MAGIC

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Magic Dust

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I love car boot sales, but have often come back empty handed. Just browsing around and meeting people give me enough satisfaction. Of course there have been times when I've spotted a bargain or something unusual to grace my home.

I had also been digging around the family tree for many months now and trying to piece our family together, especially on my late mother's side.

I often admired a grotesquely but strangely beautiful, almost tacky, pale green dinner set my owned as long as I can remember and she told me that it would eventually be passed down to me. She was very vague as to what person from the family originally owned it, only that it was passed down to her late mother and from her mother to my late mother. Apart from being old, it was in reasonably good condition, considering its age, apart from one missing plate. It was lovely just to display it in a cabinet only to come out when it needed dusting. It was a shame it was incomplete, but for something so old, looked very pretty in its own way in the cabinet.

My father was born in Scotland, my mother in North London and we always seemed to be moving house earlier on in my childhood. My mother never seemed settled, almost as if she wanted to run away from something but she seemed to enjoy the upheaval of the moving and she often said she couldn't see the point in staying in one place; both her parents has passed away and was not particularly close to her two sisters or extended family, although I did not know why. We did try to keep in touch with our cousins, but very difficult when on the move! My younger brother and I thought it was one big adventure and have revelled in the fact that we know much about many counties of England. Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Shropshire, Northamptonshire to name a few. We even moved to Glasgow, Scotland for a while, near to where my father was born, but dad had terrible trouble finding work and when he did, he couldn't settle. We finally ended up moving to Hertfordshire where we settled for many happy years until I met my husband and had two gorgeous girls. As they grew up they didn't share my enthusiasm of car boot sales, our family tree or my inheritance of the dinner set! So it seemed I wouldn't have immediate family to pass it down to. 'What's the point of a dinner set with a plate missing?' They often reminded me.

With the birth of the Internet, one of my daughters just happened to find a web page on antiques and accidentley stumbled on a similar dinner set worth approximately £3500 for auction in its entirety, even in bad condition! A rarity, all made by hand and not many around. So she casually asked me to live it in my will to her. Oh it probably wasn't the same set, but did look familiar to my dinner set but didn't think any more about it. For goodness' sake, what were the chances of this?

The family tree was getting more mysterious but trying to piece it together was getting exciting. It took many months to track down members of the family and eventually wrote to three, a great aunt, a second cousin on my dad's side and a cousin who we lost contact with on mum's side when we moved the first time, who passed on my address to other relations and after some time I was completely baffled as to who was who! After some moths of corresponding, with my cousin from my mothers side of the family, one of the letter I received from her was rather strange but almost convincing. I have never believed in witchcraft, but apparently according to he, there was a little bit of hocus pocus, white magic, tarot cards, séances all going on with a late great great great aunt and that she had left all manor of oddities in her will to various nieces and nephews (as she had no children of her own) which included various stones, a crystal ball, magic dust and all other things I had never heard of. Interesting, but never believed in any of it. My parents had never mentioned anything like this before, so maybe my cousin was just being a little over imaginative and after all, this was many generations ago and things like this get misconstrued over many years. My cousin lived in Lowestoft and although not that far away, very unlikely I would take time out to meet her. However, she did make the effort to keep in touch after some weeks gave her my telephone number for the odd chat. She didn't emphasize on what she had mentioned in her letter about witchcraft when we spoke, but she did say, during one conversation, that maybe one day, some unexplainable occurrence might happen and I might well question it and laughed at her comment. Sadly, she died after only fourteen months of making contact again and regretted that I never took the time to go and visit her.

A couple of years later, my husband very unexpectedly lost his job and we all jointly decided that it was time to downsize our home and move to another area where the houses were a lot cheaper, as we could not find anything suitable in our area on our budget. Money was beginning to get tight and had started to dig into our savings. We all had a huge discussion and started to take steps into moving to the one place where we all loved and holidayed on many occasions and begun looking on the Internet for places in Cornwall. It took a few weeks to find somewhere perfect for us and we were thrilled to finally settle in a little cottage just outside the village of Mevagissey. We had gained a little bit of equity from the sale of our old house and managed to get our new cottage more or less how we wanted it. Jobs were scarce, but we all found little part time jobs and things to do, but after a few months, we did wonder if we had made the right decision. It almost got to the point of only being able to afford very cheap meals for dinner and wondered how we were going to cope in the future, but somehow we all pulled together and were thankful that we were living in such a gorgeous part of England - money or not money. However there were times it could be very worrying and stressful. My brother and his children delighted in coming to visit us during the school summer holidays so that was always something to look forward to.

One morning, to cheer myself up, I visited the local car boot sale and browsed around, talking to the locals and still getting used to the slower, more laid back lifestyle and enjoyed browsing at the stalls. One owner of a stall was selling bric a brac and it looked as if one of the plates was being used as an ashtray as there was gray looking dust over it. Something made me look a bit closer though. 'That plate looks a little familiar'........I looked at it more closely and I asked how much it was and she laughed, brushed the gray dust from the plate, wiped it clean, laughed again and just gave it to me! I took it home, with a feeling of excitement and anticipation and telling myself not to be so silly as to even think it would match with what I already had in my dinner set. I mean, how could it have been? How?
Miracle of miracles, it was a match! I stared at it for what seemed like hours and began to wonder if this old relation of mine had somehow sprinkled her magic dust around and it this is what my cousin meant that I would question?

Maybe this is why my late mother never felt close to some members of her family, with all the hocus pocus going on, but now I'll never know.

One of my daughters eventually got the dinner set valued and now we are £23,575 better off.

Copyright Linda Lawrence

15th November 2005

The Reading - short story

STRANGE MAGIC

The Reading

Danny did not understand fortune telling but he was fascinated by the woman next door and her amazing ability to read the tea leaves. She always wore a colourful scarf around her head which always clashed so blatantly with her long cotton skirts. His mum, Anita always let her in for a chat and they used to sit at the tiny round kitchen table in hushed talks over a cup of tea made with tea leaves. She was well known as Auntie Maggie to everyone in the neighbourhood.

It was just Danny and his mum with the odd boyfriend and he had a reasonably happy childhood. He grew up to be street wise and got on well with the other children on the estate, even though it was a little rough. He adored his mum; she was always there for Danny. She listened, was kind and had time for him.
One day, when he was thirteen, he was called in the school office and there stood two policemen who offered Danny a ride in their police car, which all sounded very exciting, but he had a terrible feeling of foreboding while sitting in the back as he was gently told that his mum had had a fatal accident.

Over the months there were many rumours about how his mum had died, but once he was placed in a children's home, many miles away from where he knew, he had to get used to his new life and adapt very quickly, as the other kids had no time for new children. He went through his teens very angry and bitter with no answers to how his beloved mother died. It was an incredibly frustrating and a depressing time for him and he thought about taking his own life so he could be with his mother. He loved her so much; he could not imagine the rest of his life without her in it. No other kids would listen to him although thankfully, he received some counselling which helped a little.

When he was sixteen he was offered a tiny one bedroom flat, but he knew he had to go back to his old roots first. He made the 85 mile journey back to the street he was born in and finally found himself knocking at the door of the woman who used to read the tea leaves and after a brief reunion, learnt that many different tenants had moved in and out of his old home. They talked about his mum for hours on end. Maggie got out the old newspaper clippings about what might have happened, but nobody really knew and the case had been left open all these years, but it was suspected that she might have committed suicide. Danny asked Maggie about all the evenings she and mum used to chat over a cup of tea and all the times she used to read mum's tea leaves and Maggie reluctantly told him about the rivalry over two lovers which Maggie was aware of at the time. Anita had so much trouble with an ex boyfriend, Tony, who was highly strung and easily wound up, but he loved Anita deeply. Anita knew she had to move on and found herself a new lover a few months later, but it was hearsay that when Tony had found out about her new lover, that he would kill both of them. When Tony was questioned, he was found innocent. Never was there such a case shrouded in mystery.

Danny asked Maggie if she would read his tea leaves and she laughed nervously saying that she had not read them for ages and had long since been replaced by Tarot cards. Danny was intrigued about a Tarot card reading.

The cards were carefully chosen and slowly laid out in the Celtic Cross position, as Maggie concentrated on the cards and their meanings. It was a little ambiguous, but some of it made a little sense as Maggie explained how the turn up of the Magician, the Pentacles and the Moon represented Danny's past. The uncertainty, the depression and all the unpleasant changes in his life when he was a teenager and the way that Danny had to adapt as he thought about the Children's home and living so far away from all he knew. In the present the Swords and Cups suggesting and urging him to follow his heart and gut instinct and to look to every new window of opportunity. The Queen heeding warning of a middle aged woman and the Pentacles showing good fortune. The letter V being of some significance. The turn up of the High Priestess with his natural ability to learn fast; his flair to absorb new skills and an attribute to listen and observe. The number 7 would denote some meaning in his life and The Lovers with all the difficult decisions that lay ahead. The month of September would be of some influence and Justice for the balance of life and his birth sign of Libra. The pinnacle of all the cards would be the Wheel of Fortune; the slow turning of the wheel of motion in life and the words from Maggie.........'What is good, what is bad, what is neither good nor bad; sooner or later an upward swing of fortune is followed by a fall'. Some wrangles over litigation and some hard earned money coming his way and also some silver!

He was grateful for the reading, but only part of it made some sense, but he was glad to have shared the interest that his mother had and decided from that day, that he would try to leave his past behind, settled into the next nearby town, found a small bedsit and a job. It was a good start, but the money was not that great and he did find himself wondering about the reading and the financial difficulties but quickly brushed it aside as he looked around and thought what he had achieved so far with his guts, hard work and determination and knew he could move on further and do better.

Many months later he found new employment as a courier and the agency was so busy and inundated with work, Danny found himself accepting any overtime with pleasure and enjoyed the freedom of the motorbike around the nearby towns. He managed to start saving, moved out of the bedsit into a bigger studio flat and took on a mortgage. He loved his life the way it was panning out. Two years later, he was offered a partnership in the company and thought his life was complete, until he got to know the new girl who worked in reception. He was so happy, content and in love, although he would never forget about his past and his dear beloved mother.

Danny and Eve fast became an item and he smiled to himself remembering that Maggie had told him the letter V would play a part in his life and wonderful Eve was! They eventually bought a house together at number 17, The Avenue and two years later they both took over the courier company, which flourished and Danny learnt about how to run the company very swiftly.
Danny and Eve enjoyed many exotic holidays abroad and bought flash, expensive cars, but Danny always kept his motorbike to remind him of his humble beginnings.

Life was almost perfect when they married and when their twin boys were born, it was the icing on the cake.

One sunny afternoon, he took a ride on his motorbike into town and felt so proud to come all this way; he thought about his achievements and was so lost in thought, he didn't double check a junction and from nowhere, a car pulled out in front of him and Danny could not remember anything until he woke up in hospital. He had been in a coma for seven weeks and had suffered so many fractures and injuries, it was a miracle he came out of the accident alive. Even had spent many days and long long hours willing him to pull through and get better. She played his favourite music and took tapes of their sons cooing and chatting praying he would pull through until finally that flicker of an eyelid told her, he would be with her again.

The business suffered and Eve had to sack their staff. Their savings started to dwindle fast; there were wrangles over insurance companies. Eve had to sell the house quickly and downsize, the cars sold to new owners. Everything had turned to dust, but the most important thing was Danny was still alive and back with her.

Once out of hospital, Danny started reading about his accident from the local newspapers and discovered that the driver of the Ford fiesta car, Laura Vincent, was arguing at the time with her husband. She was totally to blame and a court case was set for the following month.

In court, as Laura Vincent relayed her story how her husband, the highly strung Tony Vincent had been threatening her and after many weeks, the story went deeper and slowly stated to open up a whole new can of worms, as another old case was opened and anew trial was set; A case full of mystery in which a suicide from nineteen years ago had left Tony Vincent, a prime suspect and an ex boyfriend of Anita Brown. When he found out about her new lover - Margaret Hoskins, had been made a beneficiary from Anita Browns will, his jealousy, disbelief and outrage turned his thoughts to murder. The money should have been left in a trust to her son, Danny, but the money was never mentioned or received by him. The court case was endless, the paperwork, litigation, the struggles went on and on for many months, until finally, through one last shred of evidence was found that proved that Tony Vincent had killed his ex girlfriend. The money that only her trusted friend and lover, Hoskins had known about that was a windfall from the lottery, was also another ex girlfriend of Tony Vincent, but she had since mysteriously disappeared.

The thoughts of the Tarot Card reading came flooding back; the fascination he held for the woman who read the tea leaves next door and the power of the magic she must have used to lure Danny's mother into a lesbian relationship and steal her money that was rightfully his.
When the case finally came to an end seventeen long months alter, on September 27th, Danny and his family received compensation from his accident and in addition, countless newspapers wanted the story and got paid a grand sum for it. Danny finally got the victory and justice he deserved.

Danny and his family would never come to terms with the shock of what really happened when he was a child, nor with his debilitating accident, now he was paralysed from the waist down, but was able to pursue a much better life with the thousands of thousands of pounds he received for his story and his new silver electric wheelchair made life a little bit easier for him.

Copyright Linda Lawrence

28th July 2006

House of dolls - short story

STRANGE MAGIC

House of Dolls

Ever since the age of two, my daughter Louise always had a bedroom full of cuddly toys and dolls and throughout the years, she had never really grown out of some kind of collection. I've dusted and vacuumed around Pet monsters, my little ponies; Barbies' and all her pink accessories, every imaginable cute stuffed toy and every Christmas or birthday that come along, most presents consisted of a new toy for Louise to cuddle. Unfortunately, there were just too many toys in the end and as Louise got older, we washed and parted with them and gave most of them to the local charity shop.

Even when Louise left home, her passion for dolls or cuddly toys was still apparent. She had already owned a number Furbies who chattered away to one another often scaring me a little when I was left alone with them! Their heads used to turn in my direction as I walked passed them and their dark midnight black piercing eyes seemed to bore into my very soul. I didn't understand how they worked, but reasoned that they must have had some special language of their own or it seemed that way. But since the day she started collecting Blythe dolls there seemed to be many unexplainable occurrences. Nobody knew the origin of these dolls, not even Louise, as most were purchased over the Internet as a private sale and the packages did not contain any forward addresses, they were delivered in dark boxes with large brightly ink addressed and inscribed in old English writing to the buyer. Louise even started to look like a Blythe doll, dyeing her long hair blond, her disconnected fringe and dark heavy make up emphasising her big green saucer eyes. I even thought a times, she wore the same beautiful sultry expression as those dolls.

Louise found a lovely flat in North London and settled down quickly, although I would argue that it was becoming a shrine to her collection of these unusual dolls and after a short time after taking the dolls out of their boxes, strange and unexplainable things begun to happen, subtle at first. With her rent overdue, Louise useless with money and desperate for cash, out of the blue, she received a rebate from an overpayment of council tax, only an overpayment was never made, but the council insisted that she did. It didn't matter how much she checked her bank statements, it made no difference. The council confirmed this error by letter. Nothing unusual you might think, but then really odd things happened, like she thought that she had run out of washing powder, but when she looked again, the box was just over a quarter full. When the fridge badly needed defrosting and she didn't have time to do it, when she got home from work one day, it had been defrosted and come home to find water from the ice over the floor. She found a £20.00 note underneath her DVD player when dusting - again, when she was short of cash and a tin of wholesome Minestrone soup appeared mysteriously in her cupboard when she thought she didn't have any food in her flat.

A few weeks later, without warning, or invitation, one of Louise's 'friends' - a bit of a drama queen, turned up on her doorstep carrying a bottle of red wine. Louise was clearly tired, but her friend was so happy to see her, Louise did her best to make her feel welcome. As Louise went into the kitchen to get a cork screw opener, her friend suddenly got up and decided to leave with no excuse. She just simply changed her mind and gave no valid reason! She remained a little cagey with Louise over a period of weeks and didn't make any further contact after this.

I often stayed overnight and heard those furbies chatting to one another; a nonsensical conversation with monotone voices and eerie laughter. I also heard some excited whispering and giggling near the witching hour and was never sure if it was a crowd walking home nearby or those dolls exchanging secret messages with each other.

One morning I swear those Blythe dolls had changed places with one another and I'm sure they swapped clothes, handbags, shoes and make up. I even thought one had a bit of a smile on her face after cleaning Louise's flat one day while she was at work.

In time, Louise met a new boyfriend, Michael and most people seemed to dislike him except, of course, Louise. her friends and I all had a gut feeling that he would make her unhappy, but she tried to make a go of the relationship, simply because she thought a lot of him. Michael's father was very strict and a control freak from what we could gather and his mother was frightened of him and left Michael's father in the end. This all seemed to rub off on Michael, who turned into a bit of an attention seeker, a bit like his father on the controlling side and manipulative towards Louise, but her easy going nature tolerated his behaviour. It was very difficult to stand by and grit my teeth and her friends and I felt so helpless.

Over the weeks I knew that Michael grew uneasy sleeping over at Louise's flat and kept having to keep looking over his shoulder, although even he could never understand why. Louise didn't understand why he felt this way, as she felt so safe and secure where she lived.

One evening, after a night out from her local pub, Louise and Michael got into an argument about some young man who Michael thought was supposedly talking to Louise and when they got home, Michael threatened to hit her and as she cowered into the corner of the living room, he picked up her favourite Blythe doll, knowing how much she loved her dolls, opened the front door and hurled it down the concrete stairs until she hit the hard cold floor below with a sickening thud. Louise, by now was quite frightened and threatened to call the police if he didn't leave. After more arguing, he finally left and kicked and jumped on the Blythe doll on his way out, as if she were to blame. Louise now clearly traumatised and crying so much, between her stifled sobs, called me to stay over. She was so frightened to go downstairs to pick up her doll in case she was too damaged.

During the time I was driving over, Michael had telephoned Louise to say that he had a slow puncture and would kill the person who caused this. He could do no more than to wait for the rescue service in the freezing cold dense fog as uncannily; the spare tyre in the boot was also flat. As I drove along the road on the way to North London, I expected to see Michael, but the visibility was very poor.

Still feeling very low a few weeks later, it wasn't long before Louise brushed herself down, perked up and went for a drink in the same pub that she and Michael went to on the night of the argument. With some help from her friends had a really nice evening and later that night, bumped into the same young man who Michael thought was taking to her. This time he did chat her up and ended up going out on a number dates..........

As for Michael, well nobody ever saw or heard from him ever again after that night. He is now officially a missing person.

The Blythe doll that was kicked and hurled down the stairs came to no harm at all, other than her dress getting ripped but she looked very pretty in the new Kimono Louise bought her.

Copyright Linda Lawrence
17th November 2005

Piano man - short story

STRANGE MAGIC

Piano Man

All the way through her childhood, Amanda remembered her father playing endlessly on his piano. He could play anything from a tune on the radio to a famous classic. In her eyes, he was a musical maestro. She loved him dearly, he was her world. He tried to reach her mother and looking back she realised, she played very well for a person with little knowledge for playing instruments, but her dad knew all the keys and chords and could pick up a song and play it by ear very easily after tweaking a few notes. He always had time for Amanda to teach her simple little tunes to start off with, Frere Jackques to Doh Ray me and in time, she was able to play a little of what he played. She didn't have the fist that he had and preferred him to play to her rather than her struggle to practice, but through his patience and encouragement, Amanda practiced and tried hard to reach her fathers' standards. She know she would never share her fathers' love of classical music and listened more to light rock songs.

When she felt confident enough, Amanda approached her head teacher in junior school and asked if she could play the piano while the other children marched out of the assembly to their classrooms instead of the usual routine of another teacher playing them out, but she didn't realise how nervous she would feel and all the hours of practice that she had put in were for nothing when the classic she wanted to play was played in the wrong key and sounded awful and played it in a chord that she had never learnt and the whole piece sounded so dreadfully out of tune. The other kids thought it was just their friend playing them out and thought it so cool! She wasn't asked to play again and she wouldn't have done anyway, after that disaster!

Many happy years passed and the piano was always being played. After school, over the weekends, during school holidays. Friends would gather round and sing to new pop songs that were learnt on it. Christmas was always full of fun, with dad playing new songs and the family singing. It beat watching television any day!
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When Amanda left junior school for secondary school, both her parents knew that she had potential to play piano and she stated to have piano lessons. But those piano lessons were dreadful. her teach wore bright red lipstick that used to seep into cracks on her lips and outwards and looked as if she had sucked on a bright red lollipop which clashed terribly with her clothes. her laugh was a cackle and she was very loud and abrupt. Not only did Amanda take an instant dislike to her, but having played by ear for all those years, she didn't understand crotchets, quavers, sharps, flats or scales. Reading music was alien to her and found it almost impossible to grasp. Not only that, it was clear that her piano teacher had her favourite pupils. Amanda tried hard but it took many weeks before she mastered a piece of music but even then, the timing was wrong. But she never gave up; she wanted her parents to be proud of her.

One Christmas Eve, when she was eleven, Amanda crept down the stairs to find her father sat in the armchair, she had no idea he had been ill, but a few hours later he died. Amanda's world come to an end from that day, she couldn't imagine her life without him in it.

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She couldn't bear to have further tuition on the piano and every time she looked at the piano at home, she thought her heart would break and never mend. Her mum didn't want to let go of the piano, but at the same time, found it hard to live with, but over time and many years, it begun to get loved again, with all the great memories it had attached to it. Amanda rarely played on it, just the odd moment as it was never the same. She went through the years just wanting to talk to her dad, to hear his voice, anything.

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Years passed and her mum remarried and Amanda had her share of boyfriends until she met and married her partner, Dave. They moved into a tiny flat and had together a beautiful little girl, Clair. The marriage was a waste of time. Amanda admitted she always wanted a husband who was like her dad, not in looks necessarily, but in nature. Dave was exactly the opposite and it was clear, he wasn't bothered about Amanda and Clair and so the marriage just plodded on.

After two years together, they decided to move into a larger house and it was then Amanda approached her mother about having the piano in her new house which her mother agreed to. It still rarely got played, but it was a nice comfort to have in her home. It was also a beautiful piece of furniture in mahogany with intricate details of flowers on three panels above the keyboard. The pedals no longer worked and it was now a little out of key, but considering its age, it was in very good condition. Amanda never encourage Clair to play, but then, Claire was never interested in learning.

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After another two years, Amanda heard of a good medium and gave her the benefit of the doubt and invited her over for a reading. The first thing that the medium picked up on was the piano and that the owner was a lovely, kind natured man, who passed away before he should have done, although Amanda remained open minded. It also gave her a tiny glimmer of hope that there was such things as an afterlife. The marriage just plodded along and badly as the relationship was very volatile, but for the sake of Clair, they stayed together and eventually moved into another house a few miles away to make a fresh start, but the marriage had almost completely dissolved soon after the move and one night Amanda and Dave had such a heated argument that she thought the he was going to hit her. Just as the argument reached boiling point, the flap on the front at the bottom of the piano, just fell of its own accord! This had never happened before and Amanda found herself saying that must be her dad and that he hated her husband for all the stress he had put her through.

After many years, Amanda met a new partner, someone with with a kind heart, a placid nature, someone who had patience and kindness and eventually had a wonderful son together who they named Thomas. Although Thomas looked more like his Dad, there were times she saw a glimpse of her father in him. A certain look or smile, an expression or just something in his eyes and Amanda was quite sure that her Dad lived through him in some way and drew much comfort form this. When Thomas was three, he showed great interest in music and when a colourful keyboard was brought for him one Christmas, it was clear he enjoyed playing and listening to simple songs. As time wore on, Thomas started to learn more instruments and he was so gifted because he could play by ear. He enjoyed taking piano lessons for a while and he started to read notes and enjoyed re teaching his mother the minims, crotchets, quavers, scales and staccato. The piano was being played again and Amanda found herself getting so much enjoyment teaching the little that she knew to Thomas and him just finding himself around the keyboard as if it were second nature. He would never share his mothers' love of light rock music preferring something darker and heavier.

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Thomas would play to his parents after many nights of practice and listen to new songs that he had heard on the radio stations. He would show off in front of his extended family when they had their get togethers' at Christmas. He played what he knew and he revelled in playing in front of his friends at school during one assembly and his friends thought he was cool.

Eventually Thomas would join a band through his school friends with him on keyboard. His parents were so proud. Even though the band might never be famous, Thomas was famous in their eyes, especially his mothers', who thought she saw her father smiling at her through Thomas sitting at the piano one Christmas Eve at her old home and shed tears of joy.

Copyright Linda Lawrence
17th November 2005

The Healer - short story

STRANGE MAGIC

The Healer

Victoria had been plagued by Eczema as long as she could remember. Her parents told her it started to flare up a few weeks after she was born. It dominated her early childhood and some of the children in her primary school used to torment her when it was particularly bad. Anthony Webb, known as Spider, was definitely the worst offender. He was just one mini yob thug who had no feeling or care for anyone but himself. Even his so called friends were frightened of him; this is probably why they stuck by him. On one occasion, he made Victoria cry so hard, the only thing she could mutter through her sniffled sobs was, 'what comes around, turns around', but this only made him laugh harder. 'I'll see you in hell scabby leper VIC-TOR-IA'!

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The taunts continued, but Victoria somehow grew used to it and as time wore on, she learnt how to cope with the Eczema and the bulling, she had to, but the more Anthony called her names, the more she itched, burnt and bled. Month after month, year after year, he never stopped his torment. She even had nightmares about him.

It was agony just to bath and cream twice daily and nothing seemed to relieve the itching, the scratching, burning and the bleeding. Her whole life revolved around her uncontrollable skin condition.

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When it was time to leave primary school to start secondary school, it was a huge relief, when mercifully, Anthony was placed in what was known as the dunce's class and it was only the odd occasion when they bumped into each other. 'Scabby, leper, VIC-TOR-IA'! He spat in her face when he said it, but by now, she had made some new friends who thought Anthony was just so infantile and pathetic; they were good friends who were so much more mature and treated Victoria with respect. She tried not to let the Eczema get in the way of this new school life and on the onset of puberty, her Eczema slowly begun to improve with just the odd flare up.

Many happy school years passed by and she excelled in her exams and passed nine GCSE's, seven with the highest grade, then attended college to learn a fashion design course. After a couple of years she landed a good job in the city as a fashion designer. Her parents were so very proud of her.

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It was only a matter of time before she met Steve, somebody special, on the same overhead train as her every morning and evening and wasn't long before they were an item, often meeting for lunch as they were only one tube stop away from one another. They fell in love and finally found a place to live together. All was well for a year or so, but Steve began go to grow distant and over the next few months he relationship started to turn volatile, but Victoria found herself pregnant and so they both decided to try and make a go of it. After all, a baby would put a different slant onto how they were feeling and she didn't want to bring a child into the world without a father. She finally gave birth to a beautiful little boy, Jake, perfect in every way and thankfully, it looked as if he didn't inherit Victoria's awful skin condition and looked clear of Eczema. Steve was the model father for the first few months, but it was clear when Jake was about seven months old, that Steve and Victoria were not able to agree on anything and their difference of opinion that led to many arguments was tearing them apart and it was decided that for Jake's sake, they should split up. With all the stress, her Eczema started to ding its way to seep once again through the pores of her skin and it wasn't long before she was back to square one with the burning and the bleeding, the vicious, cruel continual circle. Not only Eczema, but a skin wart appeared on her hand and she stared getting the odd mouth ulcer. It became a constant struggle to control the Eczema, but somehow, she coped. She had to. At least least she had the skill of fashion designing that kept some money coming in.

Over a period of time, in desperation, she tried alternative medicine, from Homeopathy to Chinese medicine; she even changed her diet, starting with only brown rice, but it was all a waste of time. It seemed to calm down for a while, but it always crept back. It frightened her when she read a report that steroids were being used in alternative medicines and didn't take them again, as she already used a steroid cream for the worst affected flare ups. She didn't know the root cause of her Eczema, but it nearly always flared up a lot worse when under stress or pressure. She tried everything from primrose oil to hypnotherapy to no avail.

.

Four years went by and Jake never failed to amaze her with his little milestones, but it was a struggle financially and otherwise. Steve paid hardly any attention to Jake and he had since moved on and had another child. Money for maintenance from he was slow in coming and life for Victoria was never easy even on a personal level.

Jake soon started primary school and within weeks, Victoria was making new friends with some other mums of some of the children who attended and it wasn't long before there were coffee mornings and meetings. As one friendship grew, Victoria grew close to one of the mums' and during a deep conversation, Victoria opened up about her life, her Eczema and all the things she had tried to control it with all the failings. Her new friend Lorraine suggested she tried Spiritual healing, which was something she had never thought about or considered, but Victoria was never too sure about Spiritualists and the unknown. 'What have you got to lose' Lorraine said and the more Victoria thought about it, the more it made sense. 'What the hell, I've tried just about everything and one afternoon of my time would not make any difference'.

Lorraine had told her that some of the healers were in the early stages of 'training' whatever that meant and were in a separate room to those of the Tarot and Palmistry readings.

After one particular bad night, she made up her mind that she would try the healing the following Saturday and on her arrive at a psychic centre, she was pleasantly surprised by the calm and relaxing atmosphere the centre provided. She walked in the room of six healers, joined a short queue and waited for her turn and when her turn finally came, she was led into a soft and comfortable light beige coloured easy chair where the healer told her to relax and to close her eyes and imagine a place she would love to be where it made her feel happy and secure. As he opened up with a prayer of protection, Victoria found herself lost in deep thought and she found herself thinking of all the holidays that she went on with her parents; the rock pools in Cornwall, the caves in Devon, the Shell beach in Dorset, making sandcastles in the sun. As he laid his hands on hers, she felt the most pleasant and intense warmth radiating from her body and begun to feel so much more at ease with herself. The more his hands touched different parts of her body, the more intense the warmth, but not like the burning from the Eczema, this was so different, almost pure. Floating away in the deepest thoughts and warmest feelings; lost in the most secure environment, the healing was slowly coming to an end after thirty minutes of purest bliss. The healer spoke to her softly and gently and then invited her back for the following week and when Victoria had woken up properly, he introduced himself as he wanted to continue the healing on her personally.

My name is Anthony, but please just ask for Spider.........

With terror running through her veins, her eyes wide with fear, she stood up quickly and in an instant recognition, going back to her childhood and remembering the young thug who used to taunt her so very much at school, she ran out of the healing room, leaving behind the piecing screams for the healer who almost immediately developed mouth ulcers, burning stinging, itching, bleeding agonising Eczema. His hands and feet now covered in warts.

The healer had just finished his training, but in the confusion never said that all important, closing protective prayer and it seemed the devil himself somehow transmitted this mercifulness skin condition onto Spider ten fold.

Victoria spent the rest of her life almost Eczema free as if it never existed in the first place.

'What comes around turns around'.

Copyright Linda Lawrence
21st November 2005

Web of deceit - short story

Strange magic

*

Web Of Deceit

*

Even as a little girl, Maxine always had a good business head. She often raised some money for her favourite charity at the tender age of ten at primary school. Although she was very bright and full of ideas, the other children were not that fond of her. She was too loud, outspoken and big headed and made herself very unpopular.

*

When she left primary school to go to secondary school, she continued to raise money for various charities. She was very creative, good at art, needlework and just generally thinking of original ideas. She seemed to make something out of nothing, which was a little like her personality. As she grew into her teens, it was obvious that she loved making money; not only for charities but for herself and she dreamt of the day when she'd be driving a flash, expensive car and living in a big country rural house. She would have a large workforce and have an early retirement with the grand master plan.

*

Maxine was not very popular at secondary school as she was a little highly strung and kept boasting about what she was good at and the children would shun her.

when she left school, she excelled in art and studied at college thinking it would be easy but the course was not as interesting as she thought it would be and she dropped out, shamefully thinking her talent could lead to a job anywhere in the world, but alas, she ended up in a dead end job in junior positions with no responsibility.

*

Many years later, she met her husband, Dean and together they bought a tiny cheap top floor two bedroom maisonette in a small, market town where Dean would travel into work by train and Maxine worked full time in office administration. She often day dreamed of what life might have been like if she could only hit on an idea which would be foolproof. If only she and Dean could afford to move out of their tiny little maisonette and move into an area more desirable, but on their wages they could only just about afford the mortgage they had. As time wore on, two children came along, a boy then a girl, with only thirteen months between them and Maxine found herself so busy and knee deep in nappies, the dream of moving on to a better life had to go on the back burner.

*

As the children grew older and started primary school. Maxine returned to work part time, but she was so bored with her job. She started dreaming about making money to get out of this rut.

*

It was November with thoughts of Christmas and while out buying those special cards, she wondered how everyone could afford it year after year and all of a sudden, as if a light bulb had been switched on, she stumbled across an idea of making her own cards! She always used to be so good at art and creating things, she was sure she could make some cards that would be so personal, she visited an art shop and picked up some paint, an assortment of gold and silver letters and more art and craft pieces. Maxine was so excited; she couldn't wait to get back home to start making them.

*

She made some cards for her own family, adding personal little odes which were so pretty and cheap to create. She knew she had the knack for making things look good and was such a perfectionist. Her family were so touched and pleased with her cards and knew from then she was onto a good idea.

*

Maxine started making all different cards in all shapes and sizes, in an array of different designs for birthday, anniversary, wedding and for all other occasions with such innovation and as word got around slowly, some of the mums' at her children's' primary school started to approach her to make special cards for them as well, although they only asked once as Maxine was always gloating. As Christmas approached, she had so many orders for her cards their tiny living room was so full of boxes, cards, paper and other stationary and it began starting to feel cramped.

*

After four months, she started to make a tiny profit and she approached her local newsagents to sell some for her. Her cards were an instant seller and the demands grew from the newsagent.

*

She got the idea from a magazine that gave her the idea to advertise her cards on the Internet and got Maxine thinking that maybe in time, if she could work it out, to create her own website as her cards were getting more popular, although she was not computer literate, but knew just enough to get her by.

*

Night after night, she gradually put her website together until finally, two months later, the website was ready to launch. The only drawback was, if the public used a search engine, to find her website, Maxine would be charged each time her website was hit. She printed off some business cards and passed them around to anyone and everyone she knew and like a spiders' web; her little business began to grow. She soon got so many requests' she was inundated with orders and after some time she had to employ a couple of people to help. The orders were coming in thick and fast and she found a unit and employed two more people.

*

She boasted about her growing business to some of the parents at her childrens' school and made herself unpopular by bragging to much and her love of material things annoyed the other mums'. Her staff did not like Maxine and her gloating either, but Maxine did not care; as far as she was concerned, she was onto a brilliant idea.

*

Orders were growing fast and in time, Maxine and Dean could afford to move and buy a three bedroom house and the following year, they found the perfect retreat. Dean gave up his job and put all his time into the business. It went from strength to strength until the workforce was twenty one. So many beautiful original cards were made, all individually by hand and little poems and odes were written to criteria. Another year later, Maxine and Dean moved again into a much bigger house with five bedrooms and it was now, her dream of making money; a flash expensive car and a big rural house. Life just couldn't be better. She was so glad her children were removed from the local primary school as they were so much better and brighter than all the other children and they were able to afford for them to go to a private school go get the better education they deserved.

*

They rubbed shoulders with people with businesses and money and often threw dinner parties with their new friends and pleased to be away from their ordinary working class friends.

*

The good life lasted for about eighteen months and they even started making plans for an early retirement and called their accountant, but after rechecking the bookkeeping, it seemed a little out of sync. Maxine ignored the slight decline and dismissed the accountant, but they did seem to be slightly less busy.

*

They saw their accountant again the following month. Again, it seemed the business was not making as much money as it used to, although orders were still being placed, Maxine started to worry a little as it didn't make any sense and she said goodbye to their regular accountant and employed another to recheck and audit all their accounts. The new accountant looked a little worried when he said that the figures were so much lower from the previous year that he suggested that they sacked some of their staff and by the following month when he returned, he seriously suggested that they think about downsizing their property. It got to the stage where the children had to be taken out of private schools and the business started to go further into decline.

*

The staff were infuriated to have lost their jobs and treated so badly, they tried to take Maxine and Dean to court, but after a few months they had to declare themselves bankrupt and lost their whole business.

*

Their dream home, the fast expensive cars and the early retirement all gone in a matter of months. Their children now back in a mainstream school.

*

Nobody knew exactly who was making the hits on the website. Nobody know where the hits were coming from, but to this day, the website is continually being hit over a thousand times a day and no orders are ever placed. Maxine had unwittingly ticked a box about a five year contract to run her website, so nothing could be cancelled.

*

Between some of the mums' at their children's' old primary school, their sacked staff, the accountants and their so called business friends, resentment had built up and boiled over and like a spiders web, they all stumbled on the idea of searching for the website and made it their mission to keep using the search engines that hit onto 'Special handmade cards for all occasions'.

*

click here

******

Copyright Linda Lawrence
February 2006

Moving on - short story

Strange magic

*

Moving On

Lisa was adamant she didn't want to move home to another area; after all, she had lived in her picturesque old market home town in Essex all her life. She had lived through some good times and a few bad times and that was where she intended to say for the rest of her life. She often reminisced of her family; her Mum who sadly passed away many years before and the fondest memories she had of her. Watching her little girl, Emma growing up into a fine young woman and then flying the nest to live with her boyfriend and many other recollections of events throughout her life, her family with her new partner and their son and after all that she had been through during the awful divorce with her ex husband who was an alcoholic and thief. She had been blessed with a few good friends over the years, one as far back as her childhood, others through various jobs, or parents from schools that her daughter attended and kept in touch with. She made more nice friends when her son attended school and kept in constant touch with them all. She could not leave Emma who was now twenty five, even though she had settled down. Lisa loved her little home now that George had lovingly decorated it. She had to admit though, the nearby village had lost its appeal over the years, what with more houses being built and now the new supermarket was being used probably by most of the local residents, forgetting the quaint little individual shops now struggling to keep afloat and tragically, some of them closed down giving way to fast food takeaways or their shop fronts boarded up and derelict for years before becoming charity shops, leaving behind yet more memories. 'Never mind', Lisa thought 'we're in the 21st century now and we must move with the times'.

George had never been able to settle from the day he moved in with her. They had met during the time Lisa was going through a messy divorce, her house already in her name and had jointly decided that George left home from all he knew to move in with her. As time went by, it was clear he was never going to be happy and it was a wrench to be sixty miles from his loving home, his friends and family. He admitted although the cul-de-sac was quiet and slightly rural, there was something about that it made him feel unable to settle, but could never understand his own feelings. The jobs he worked at were never like his old job further down south and he had a deep longing to be back there. He tried to keep his feelings to himself but there were times he had such a mixture of yearning and sadness in his eyes, it was clear he was never going to feel at home, in spite of the happy events that happened during the time he was there.

As the years flew by, when their little boy Jack started school, he started to attract the not so well behaved children that lived in the cul-de-sac but through no fault of his own. They were too young to venture out of the road by themselves because it was near a busy main road, so they played in the street sometimes causing mischief. Over a period of time, two of the children got naughtier and more daring causing problems for some of the neighbours and older folk that lived in the road and in time, there was a little bit of ill feeling as the parents of the children did little to acknowledge what they were getting up to and often let them play out late - even on a school night.

Nothing really felt the same when two of the mischievous boys deliberately broke Lisa and Georges' front window; they felt let down and violated and the children were never reprimanded for it. They carried on causing problems for other neighbours and it was about this time, George mentioned about moving as he felt the situation with these kids in the cul-de-sac would get worse and the road would change further as new neighbours with equally misbehaved children would move in.

In spite of what had happened, Lisa did not want to move, but George insisted that they took a ride out just to take a look at what was on offer. Lisa enjoyed the lovely views of the countryside and realised that there were more quaint villages other than her own, but the thought of moving away from all she knew depressed her, but they kept on taking rides out and finally started looking at houses and put their own house up for sale. Lisa still did not want to move and every viewer that came to look at their house was put off by the mention of the problem with the rats, or the hints about the noisy neighbours and late night parties so an offer was never made which left George more confused and frustrated at Lisa's attitude. Lisa never made an effort to tidy and make the house look nice; in fact the house was always in complete disarray every time a viewer booked an appointment. 'What was the point of being on the market, when you have no intention of selling and moving?' Lisa did not want to share anything with a stranger; the pretty wallpaper, the open fireplace with a beautiful mahogany wood surround or her sons' space themed bedroom. Even the garden looked gorgeous as it took years of digging and planting shrubs and perennials before it was more under control.

But everything changed one day, when they took a ride out. With no viewings booked, George took a different route and Lisa was spellbound by just how pretty it really was further south and quite by accident found a lovely part of the old town they had not seen before and saw a property for sale. Having contacted the Estate agents for a viewing, Lisa instantly felt as if she had 'come home'. George and Jack felt exactly the same and after a long chat with Emma, she said 'You'll see much more of me now I know you'll be moving not far from my favourite sea side resort!'

The following day a perspective buyer booked a viewing with just half an hour to spare and Lisa didn't have time to make the house look tidy or desirable, but he made an offer on their house the following week, so in turn Lisa was able to make an offer on the beautiful cottage that they had seen. The only snag was, the viewers' wife had not seen the property yet and need to get a feel for it and booked an appointment to once and see it over the weekend on Saturday afternoon, which was just two days away. No woman would ever take a liking to a house in this state, Lisa thought.

Panicking, Lisa set about tidying and cleaning the house. She paid a carpet cleaner man almost double to brighten it up. She was on her hands and knees, scrubbing floors, cleaning cupboards, washing net curtains, vacuuming the dust and cobwebs in every corner. She polished every single piece of wooden furniture until it shone and every mirror gleamed. She cleaned her cooker and hob until it looked like new. She even managed to find a window cleaner that cleaned indoors as well as outdoors and paid him over the top of his usual rate. She took down all the main curtains from every room and filled the aid with the scented fabric conditioner that was added to the washing. The aroma of pot pouri wafted from every room. George mowed the neglected lawn, the shrubs and hedges were trimmed.

*

They both worked flat out, doing little repair jobs which involved many trips to the DIY store and they even went up in the loft to see what could be chucked away and after it had all been tidied up, there was much more room. Two solid days of getting the house looking cleaner and tidier. They were exhausted and hardly slept worrying about the viewers the following day.

*

Saturday afternoon finally arrived and as Lisa opened the door to the couple, the viewer said, 'Apologies for not bringing my wife over soon, this is Collette'. And beside her sat her - faithful guide dog.

*****

Copyright Linda Lawrence

September 2006

Hidden Depths - short story

Strange Magic

Hidden Depths

The small primary school in the deep, dark forest always looked so pretty in the winter. The trees now start and devoid of autumn leaves, sprinkled with the first snowfall of the season.

*
Such a lovely area living so close to the wildlife of the forest and if you were lucky, might have spotted deer, some snakes or other wildlife. The owls could be heard hooting in the twilight and sometimes could be seen high up in the trees around the school as if they were protecting it, as the birds did in the morning during the dawn chorus.

*
On the downside, it could be difficult getting the hundred or so children to and from school because sometimes the grit that the council had laid wasn't affective enough and made driving the school buses hazardous along the long, narrow, winding, country lanes, but of course the children would be happy when they were given a day off because of the bad weather conditions! The two school buses were organised by the local council which between them carried forty five young children.

*
It was three summers ago, that a new headmistress was appointed to the primary school There was of course a welcome assembly organised, giving the parents a chance to get acquainted with here. She was so different from the previous head that had to retire on medical grounds who was so warm, had a kind heart and always ready with a cuddle for an upset child. Now, it seemed initially, she had been replaced by what can only be described as a strict matron, although I have been taught never to judge a book by its cover. It did strike me odd, she was dressed in such dismal, dark colours of black and grey and she continued to wear these colours in various clothes for as long I can remember.

*

During one private meeting, it become clear that she was a little edgy around adults, although she was very diplomatic, but nervous with parents if an appointment was made to go and see here for one reason or another. She also spoke to the adults as if they were children and she always showed the infants' chairs for the adults to sit down on, which didn't go down too well, but on the other hand, the weaker parents would also feel intimidated by her. We did reason, now that she had made her mark, that if she did a good job with the children, that's all that really mattered.

*

Over the months, it seemed obvious she had her favourite children and made them feel special and secure and while the majority of the children disliked her, we still reasoned that if not many people liked er, as long as the children respected her and behaved themselves that surely must be the right way to run a school?

*

Months went by and some new children started their new school in the forest while older children left for secondary school.

*

As time wore on, it seemed that a lot of the children somehow had their spirit a little dampened, but on their return home, returned to be lively and happy again. The children met the weekends with a welcome zest and half tern holidays a huge relief. Absentees were steadily on the increase, but surprisingly the SATS results more than satisfactory which left a big question mark over our heads.

*

Over time, I noticed some changes in the forest, too. The birds didn't gather and sing as much as they used to near the school and seemed to be replaced by angry squawking crows and greedy magpies. There were hardly any bees, butterflies, dragonflies or other pretty insects and instead, swarms of wasps or hornets seemed to replace them and two wasps' nests had to be destroyed in the eves and the brickwork of the school during one summer month. Even a dead baby owl was found in the playing field by one very distraught young pupil one morning.

*

The school seemed to have taken on this dull gloomy hue that didn't seem to make any difference during any season. It was almost as if its spirit had been broken.

*

Items from pupils begun to go missing and always from the five children the headmistress took a shine to. Lottie's' Winnie the Pooh ruler, Thomas' P.E. jumper, Arthur's' Bob the builder eraser, Lucy's' personalised note pad and Georgia's' Sally Strawberry pencil sharpener. Just a few items at first and then more from the same pupils at different times.

*

Bullying wasn't dealt with properly and there seemed to be more and more disharmony with pupils and very frequently and it wasn't long before a handful of pupils were so traumatised by the bullying, it was getting difficult to get them to attend school. Several meetings were held and although there were plenty of suggestions and a large input of common sense, it didn't make any difference and the bullying continued.

*

By now, nothing really felt the same, but couldn't explain why. It didn't help that the head wore such dull colourless black and gray clothes. In addition, the uniform for the tiny children was so bland. Gone were the pretty shoes for the girls and replaced with flat black lace ups. The little boys were not even allowed to wear trainers. New stricter rules were enforced and the little girls were no longer being allowed to exchange their friendship bracelets to their friends. Playtime become nothing more than a dull routine as bikes from the play shed had been removed, Monkey bars taken away and the sandpit in the reception class had been replaced by a new table with a computer on which a four year old would never really be interested in. The quaint old hand bell had been replaced by buzzers that startled the children. School outings become a thing of the past, so the children had noting to look forward to.

*

The PTA got less and less involved with the school, as the Headmistress always had the last word and any new ideas or innovation was never taken up by the suggestions from any of the parents.

*

Over time, many pupils left the school in the forest to another primary school where they become a lot happier, more relaxed and in time their spirit returned where they flourished and ever put a healthy bit of weight on.

*

One more year dragged by and another winter term, the school bus struggled up the hill. It was so icy, the driver felt it too precarious to drive the remaining two hundred yards or so, so it was decided that the children would be walked for the rest of the way.

*

As the children reached the gloomy school gates, the headmistress, dressed in her usual dowdy attire, announced that the other teachers were unable to drive to school because of the icy weather conditions and that she, herself would contact the parents and take the children home herself if necessary after a couple of hours when roads were less dangerous and the weather might have improved.

*

Call it gut instinct, but when I felt it was safer to drive, I hung around out of sight for a little while in the freezing cold; some parents arrived to pick up their children but eventually, the Headmistress appeared with her five favourite children and helped them into her peoples' carrier. I followed discreetly in my car and we all drove very slowly, deep into an other part of the forest. Even in the winter, the trees in this part of the forest were so dense. I had never seen this part of the forest before and become frightened that the Headmistress was lost. The roads become narrower, the snow heavier, until it felt as if we were following a narrow bridle path having lost sight of the road. The trees denser than ever, meandering for what seemed like miles in the hidden depths of the forest. It seemed like ages had gone by and didn't have a clue as to where I was. Eventually there was a small clearing with a tiny wooden run down house with filthy broken windows and rotting front door, where the Headmistress stopped and got out of the car and the five children who were completely transfixed by her. She had the ugliest grimace on her face. My blood run cold and felt as if I was going to turn to stone with her stare. I was gripped by the most dreadful fear and terror, a realisation that the gray and black dressed headmistress really wasn't what she seemed and must have somehow groomed those five children for so many months.

Trying to think clearly and rationally, I started to dial 999 on my mobile phone but couldn't get a signal and there was just no level of reception at all! My heart was pumping with so much adrenaline and by now I was shaking uncontrollably and the fear just got the better of me. I felt myself going faint as I heard some cackling laughter coming from that house. The rest is a blur because I couldn't remember anything until I woke up in hospital.

*

A nurse was hovering around me laughing at my confusion, telling me my minor operation was a complete success and that the anaesthetic would take another hour or so to wear off.

*

Was I dreaming..........was it a dream, was it?

*

A week later on the national news, a Headmistress had been questioned about fiddling the SATS exams, but when it was time for the papers and national television to interview her, she had just simply disappeared. There was, of course a massive search for her, but to no avail, but I often wonder about the rumours about the covens that we hear so much about in our county.

*

The five children who the Head took a shine to were expelled for their terrible behaviour - they were simply out of control.

*****

Copyright Linda Lawrence

20th November 2005

Gray Areas - short story

Strange magic

Gray Areas

I remember back to my childhood and all the magical and strange things that used to happen, but could never understand why I was chastised for telling the truth. I really upset me, of course and in the end, I had to accept that what I really felt and saw were just figments of my imagination and went through my younger years trying to convince myself that my telling the truth was wrong. I did not help that I was an only child and had no other siblings to confide into. My father was very strict and my mother just went along with whatever he said of done.

I must have been about five years old when one of fathers' regular friends, Jack, came over for a visit. I never felt comfortable with him, in fact I felt very uneasy around him but didn't know why either and being so young, didn't understand what kind of emotion I was supposed to be feeling. He always tried to make me laugh, but never found him funny. I also noticed he had a dark grayish colour over his head and a little around his body and asked him why he had such a dull colour hovering over him when most other people I knew all had pretty colours? Father didn't have a clue what I was talking about and I couldn't understand why nobody else couldn't see it. I ended up in tears after a smack about making up stories........yet again.

A few months later he bought his new baby son, David over and he too had the same grayish hue, but knew better this time not to mention it.

When I started to lose some teeth, I waited expectantly for the tooth fairies and they never failed to disappoint. Two very pretty fairies with tiny pink bodies and beautiful friendly faces with the most vivid colourful blue, green and pink opaque winds flew down t my pillow with such grace and collected their treasure for fairyland. In the morning, I would always find a sixpence under my pillow, but I new saw any of the fairies carry that sixpence and besides, it would have been far too heavy for them to bring to me. Mum used to ask me if I had seen my tooth and although I was always honest about my visitors in the night, she always gave me that look that said 'don't tell lie' although she never got cross with me like dad. Another mystery my dad could not seem to answer without getting annoyed with me.

It was the same as Father Christmas; I knew full well that he did not drink the whiskey that Dad put out for him, nor the reindeer's ate the carrots, so why did my parents lie to me about that? Father Christmas told me himself he disliked whiskey and threw away any that was left for him, so that any child might think that he had actually drunk it, so not to disappoint any children. He also told me that his reindeer's detested carrots as he left a small sack full of presents beside my bed, waved goodbye to me and told me he would be back next year in the early hours of Christmas day.

I must have been about seven when there was bad news about a local man, some burglaries and a shot gun involved. I did not understand the true meaning of what was happening, but all the same, made me feel very frightened and knew that there was something ominous happening because Mum was crying and Dad was on edge and kept sweeping back his flecked black and grey hair with his hand, which he always did when he fretted. I asked what was wrong, but for some reason they could not or would not tell me, other than a bad man who lived in our area, had to go to prison, whatever that meant, so we were all safe.

As the years wore on, I spent many happy hours playing with the little elves and the pixies danced with the fairies at the end of my garden, although we never spoke, we understood each other. My mother just used to raise her eyes to the ceiling in despair, wile my Father threatened to take me to a psychiatrist. Whoever this person was, I would have been so happy to share my thoughts with this psychiatrist; maybe they would understand, but the doctor just shrugged my father off and told him he should feel humble that he had a daughter that was healthy and had such a vivid imagination. I was so disappointed not to see this special person who might have believed everything I said just for once.

while I was still in junior school, about the age of nine or ten, I was playing on the playground apparatus at school and was quite high up, hanging on the top bar with my legs, when I completely lost m grip. Everything was hazy for a while, but I didn't hurt myself. I woke up in hospital with my parents by my side with a new yellow Teddy bear and the look of huge relief when I asked about my whereabouts. I found out the doctors where stunned that I had neither a broken bone in my body, nor cuts or bruises - just a little graze on my left shin. I knew by now that I dare not mention that three beautiful pure white angels with pretty pink smiling faces cushioned my fall by holding on to me.

As I grew up, I made more friends and begun to play outside our house and after leaving junior school, concentrated on homework and went through the teenage years and all the normal things that all the other kids went through. The fairies, elves, pixies and angels become a thing of the past and eventually accepted that they must have been my imaginary friends.

Having gone through my teenage years, I eventually moved out of my home and rented some property with a friend and shared many happy months. One evening I was very much alone, when I heard something unfamiliar outside in the garden. After this, everything happened so quickly. A man with a balaclava forced his way through the back door and although he never hurt me physically, I was absolutely terrified and petrified as he held a gun in his hand. He was after money and frightened of being raped or killed and never felt fear like this in my whole life and was threatened that if I involved the police, he would know and would come back and 'do me in'. The odd thing is, while he was threatening me, although he tried to keep me calm, I noticed this dark grey hue over his head and a little around his body.

A few days later, a man was arrested for a spate of burglaries in the area and I gave my evidence to the police as I felt sure it was safe to do so, even though he threatened to 'do me over' if I did go to the police. There was an identity parade and it involved three of us to tr and recognise who might have been responsible for the rein of terror that had been inflicted over the last few weeks, in spite of him wearing the trademark of the balaclava. I couldn't help but notice the obvious grey hue that hung over his head and a little around his body and identified him straight away. After this, there was enough evidence to arrest and convict him.

I've since found out, that the burglar was the very baby that I met for the first time when I was five and is now serving his time in prison. His own father had also spent many years in prison for similar crimes, but the difference being he had used his shot gun and killed someone. The very same person my dad had befriended all those years ago.

Since the day of the identification, which led to his imprisonment, I have not seen any more auras.

Six years after that awful experience, I have a wonderful little four year old little girl with my partner. We often hear her in her bedroom giggling and chattering away, staring and smiling contently, looking up in the air as if she can see something we can't.............

*****

Copyright Linda Lawrence

16th November 2005