The Girls In The Woods. Helen Phifer
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dislodged a mound of leaves. She began cursing, as the sound of her friends’ laughter filled the air around her. There was something white sticking out of the ground in front of her. She looked at it, trying to get her mind to process exactly what it was. When it finally decided that what it was seeing was real, she opened her mouth to scream and didn’t stop until Miss Bates and the others were standing next to her.
‘What on earth is the matter, Becky. Have you hurt yourself?’
They were all too busy looking at her to notice the skeletal hand that was sticking up from the ground. She lifted her finger and pointed to it.
‘What is that?’
Miss Bates looked down at it and felt her blood run cold. She looked at Scott.
‘Is this some kind of joke, Scott? Because if it is it’s not very funny.’
He shook his head.
‘No miss, I swear down. She wanted a pee and was going behind that tree, I’ve been standing with Jessica the whole time.’
Jess nodded in agreement with what her friend had just said. The man who was leading the walk bent down to take a closer look, prodding at the bones with a stick.
‘It seems real, but how would someone’s hand get out here?’
Scott pulled Becky up from the floor and she grabbed onto him.
‘Miss, if there’s a hand – there might be an entire body under there.’
‘Yes, you’re right, Scott. There could well be. I think we need to move away now and I’ll phone the police. Before I do I’m asking you all one last time – do any of you know anything about this? I’m not angry, but if it’s some toy Halloween prop that you got at the pound shop then I need to know because I don’t want to look like an idiot and phone the police for nothing.’
Nobody spoke. They all shook their heads at her. Most of them were still staring down at the hand with morbid fascination.
‘Right, then I’m trusting you on this – I’ll phone the police. I think you should all go over there and sit down. I have a feeling we might be here for a while yet.’
The normally rowdy kids were silent for once and she was glad that she could hear herself think. She walked off away from them so they couldn’t hear her conversation with the operator.
Annie locked the door to the cottage and stared at her car, which she hadn’t driven for almost three weeks. Then she decided that by the time she’d driven the short distance into the village of Hawkshead and found a parking place she could walk and still be in time for her doctor’s appointment. It was a warm day but there was a gentle breeze which made it bearable. She walked to the gate and heard the two different voices giggling softly. Looking up at the bedroom window that she’d left ajar she saw the outline of twin boys standing there; she waved, unsure whether they could see her, but they both smiled and waved back. Annie, who had been able to see and communicate with some ghosts after the horrific head injury Mike inflicted on her two years ago, didn’t mind her ghostly occupants. They were much friendlier than the woman who’d murdered them back in 1732. Thankfully Betsy Baker was no longer haunting the house, not since she and Jake had dug up her grave in the front garden and, after an awful fight, had managed to bury her in consecrated ground. The boys she could cope with, but that woman had been evil through and through. Before long she reached the main road which led into the picturesque village. She walked past one of the coffee shops, which had the biggest cake Annie had ever seen in the window, and her stomach let out a loud groan. She rubbed her hand over her bump. Oh no, you love the look of that cake as much as I do, kid. At last a partner in crime. If I haven’t put on three stone in the last couple of weeks when the midwife weighs me I’ll treat us both to some. She walked into the surgery and was surprised to see it so busy. There wasn’t a chair free but she didn’t mind; she was used to standing up for hours on end whilst at work guarding crime scenes. She booked in at the receptionist’s desk and turned around to see a woman, who was around the same age as her, stand up.
‘Please, you can take my seat.’
The woman didn’t make eye contact and kept her head bowed; she did, however, smile.
‘Thank you but I’m fine, I can stand for hours – I’m used to it.’
‘Oh no, I wouldn’t dream of it. Please take it.’
Annie didn’t want to offend the small, quiet woman so sat down in the chair.
‘Thank you.’
She looked at Annie and nodded.
‘You’re very welcome.’
The receptionist shouted Jo Tyson and, still keeping her head down, the friendly woman scurried along the corridor towards the doctor’s room. Annie picked up the magazine from the table next to her; she had noticed the blue bruising under the woman’s left eye and the way she avoided eye contact and kept her head down. It reminded Annie of the woman she used to be three years ago. She shivered; the thought of her dead husband, Mike, and his violent outbursts made her feel ill. She had no idea how her life had changed so dramatically into the one she was living now but she knew it was all thanks to Will. He had stumbled across her when she was at her lowest point and like some scene from her favourite film, Pretty Woman, had come to her rescue, falling in love with her when she was battered, bruised and technically homeless. And now look at her; she had never been so happy. She so wanted to tell that woman that her life could get better if she found the courage to make the break away from her violent partner but it wasn’t her place because she didn’t know her. Hopefully the woman would realise it herself before her partner hit her too hard and killed her… the midwife shook Annie’s shoulder, waking her up from her world of painful memories.
‘Sorry, Annie, I called you a couple of times but you were miles away.’
Annie laughed.
‘I was. Sorry about that.’ She stood up and followed the midwife along to the room which she shared with the practice nurse.
The doctor felt Jo’s head, shone a light in her eyes and asked her how many fingers he was holding up.
‘Four.’
‘Good. I think you might have a slight concussion but everything seems okay. Have you vomited or passed out since?’
She shook her head.
‘No, but I’ve seen things… strange things. This is going to sound really crazy but I’m not, I swear I’m not. The pans started to shake on the rack in the kitchen when there was no breeze and I saw a woman I didn’t recognise looking back at me through the mirror – she was bleeding from her head. And then the television wouldn’t turn off.’
The doctor sat down and began typing on the computer. Jo knew she sounded exactly like she was crazy but she had to tell someone.
‘How long was this after you fell and hit your head?’
‘Pretty much as soon as I came around.’
‘Well, I wouldn’t worry too much. I think you must have knocked your head too hard and it messed around with your vision. Concussion can be a strange thing. Now I want you to take it easy for a couple of days, take paracetamol if you have a headache and get plenty of rest. I’m sure you’ll be back to normal in a couple of days. If you start to vomit or black out then you need to go to the nearest accident and emergency department as soon as possible.’
Jo nodded. She wasn’t about to disagree with a doctor who had spent years at medical school. At least he hadn’t told her to wait there while he called for a van and the men in white suits to come and take her away in a straitjacket to the nearest mental hospital.
‘Thank you so much, doctor. I’m sorry to have bothered you.’
He smiled at her.
‘Just