The Witches of Barrow Wood (2 page)

Eldrin was short and stocky. She had pale green skin, a crooked nose, long, jet-black messy hair, and long yellow teeth like tombstones. She also had nails like a parrot’s beak, like steel and very, very sharp. Her eyes were grey and bloodshot, and her breath was a foul stench.

Eldrin sensed little Sam in the woodland and when she found him collapsed by a barrow, she immediately cast a spell, curing him of his ill. Eldrin was so well practised with her magic that she didn’t even need to utter a word – she just thought it, and then cast it. She placed her calloused green hands to Sam’s head and could sense his thoughts and his fears, and when she sensed his fears, she angered a little inside. She then cast a spell, so that when little Sam awoke, he would see bright little orbs of light that would lead him safely out of the wood.

Although Eldrin was able to cure little Sam, she was still unable to break the spell that her sisters had cast on the barrows of the wood. The spell was cast by two and could only be broken by two. The barrows contained within them all of the evil twins’ victims over hundreds of years. The spell was cast for the sisters’ amusement. Whoever disturbed the mounds and touched the bones of the dead would die a very quick death, choking on their own vomit.

The police turned up at the cottage and a missing persons report was taken. They asked Clare and John to stay at home just in case Sam returned, and then they set off in search of the boy. Firstly, they planned to do a door-to-door search, and if they had no success, they would then organise a search party to go into the wood.

Sam awoke and rubbed his eyes. He looked up and noticed the most beautiful bright white orbs of light floating several feet from the ground. Sam stood, feeling strength in his little body again, and he pushed back his blonde hair from his face and started to follow the curious light. Sam moved faster, and then the orb moved faster. He felt as if the orb was leading him. He suddenly thought to himself that his parents would go mad, as the sky was now pitch-black. He hurried on after the pretty light, and after some time, it led him straight out of the woodland to safety. Sam wondered what had happened in the wood, and wondered why he felt fine now, and then shrugged it off and ran all of the way home.

Sam opened the front door quietly and then walked in. He saw the clock: it was midnight. Clare came running over to him, crying with joy. John smiled and then picked up the phone to let the police know that he was home safely. Clare held him tightly – she had been so scared that she would never see him again.

“Where have you been? Are you OK?” asked Clare.

“I’m fine, Mummy. I went in to the wood. I’m sorry! I know I shouldn’t have gone,” said Sam, glancing over at his dad, hoping that he, too, had missed him.

“What on Earth made you go into the wood?” Clare paused. “Never mind, you’re safe now, and that’s all that matters.”

“Go up to your room and get yourself ready for bed, Sam, it’s way past your bedtime. I’ll make you a cheese sandwich and bring it up to you in a minute,” said John, ruffling little Sam’s blonde hair.

Sam was overjoyed at his father’s affection and smiled. He wasted no time in darting up the stairs to get into his pyjamas. He smiled to himself, feeling pleased that his father did miss him and that he did love him. Clare smiled at John and then made her way upstairs after Sam.

When Sam was finally tucked up in bed, Clare sat down beside him. John came in and handed the neatly cut cheese sandwich to Sam and said that he was glad Sam was home safely. He then smiled and walked out of the room. Clare sat for a while stroking her boy’s hair and looking at him affectionately.

“Would you like me to read you a bedtime story?” said Clare.

Sam quickly gobbled up his sandwich and replied, “Yes, please, Mum.”

“What story would you like me to read?” said Clare, glancing over at his small selection of books amongst his toys.

“The Chronicles of Draylon,” said Sam excitedly, as it was his favourite book – he loved all superhero stories.

Clare fetched the book and then dimmed Sam’s bedside light. She then started to read, and then watched her little boy smile, and then a short time later, he drifted off into a blissful sleep. Clare switched off his light and then kissed him goodnight, quietly closing the door as she crept out of his room.

John took off his blue jeans and his red T-shirt, revealing his middle-aged spread. He hadn’t brushed his teeth, but wasn’t overly bothered, as there was always tomorrow. He thought to himself that those cans of lager that he had consumed earlier should help him to sleep like a log. He climbed into bed and switched of the light and in seconds, he was asleep and snoring.

Clare came into the bedroom and grimaced at John’s snoring. She had asked him to go to the doctor about it, but he had refused. She knew that it was because of his slowly growing beer belly and his bad eating habits, but he wouldn’t listen to her. She found her earplugs and placed them gently into her ears and smiled, enjoying the silence. She then slid off her blue jeans and her black blouse and climbed into bed being careful not to wake Sleeping Beauty beside her. She lay for a while thinking of her little boy and how scared he must have been lost in the wood, and then after a while, tiredness sent her into a deep, deep sleep.

A very old, large tree stood in the dense wood. It had many large roots stretching out all around it and burrowing deep into the ground. Beneath these roots was where Eldrin dwelled – underground, where no one would find her. The entrance was protected by magic, and when the witch wanted to go inside, the roots would unwind a little, revealing an opening just large enough for a short, overweight witch to enter.

In her home, she had three rooms carved out of the dirt: a bedroom, a study and her living room. In the bedroom was a bed carved out of a tree trunk. It was covered with assorted animal skins to keep her warm at night. Beside the bed was a small piece of tree trunk to serve as a bedside cabinet. The study contained all of her many scrolls and books on the art of magic, both for good and evil. The living quarters contained trunks of wood for seats and a table, and lanterns were hung on the walls in all of the rooms, with candles within to give Eldrin light. Her cauldron was never used, because it would emit steam or smoke, and Eldrin wished to remain hidden within the woodland.

Eldrin got home late that evening after hunting a deer for her dinner. The roots unwound for her and she entered her home carrying the dead animal with her. She sat down at her wooden table and slid her razor sharp claws along the animal’s belly, spilling its guts. She reached in and grabbed the intestines and immediately started chewing away at them, going into a slight frenzy, as she was hungry. Blood flowed freely and spilled on her table, on the floor, and all over her chin and her black dirty robe. She wiped her pale green skin and thought of the boy in the wood, and then of her sisters.

Eldrin looked repulsive and scary beyond belief, but despite her looks, she was mostly good. She eased back on her chair and leaned against the wall of dirt, resting her short, stocky body. She then thought back to the days when her twin sisters roamed wild. They were beyond evil, and they were sick and twisted and had no good in them at all. They lived to wreak havoc; to create a living hell for all of their victims, and they enjoyed it.

She recalled a time long ago in the woodland. Her sister Lisbeth preyed on a man walking his dog. She manoeuvred at a speed of up to forty miles per hour and grabbed the man by the throat with her left hand. She squeezed tightly on his windpipe, enjoying the look of terror in his eyes when he looked upon her and knew that he was going to die. With her right hand, and razor sharp nails that resembled a parrot’s beak, she thrust her fist deep behind the man’s neck, and then with one almighty jerk, she ripped out his spine. She then let him fall to the ground and watched his helpless body twitch around the floor. Whilst he was still alive, she got to her knees and started to eat him, tearing at his soft flesh with her long, yellow, crooked teeth. Lisbeth became intoxicated as she saw the last drop of life drain out of him, and then in a frenzied attack she took large bites out of his body, devouring all but the bones, which she buried in one of the many large barrows that exist in Barrow Wood to this day.

The evil twins were practically identical, but for the grot on Grotchin’s chin. They were very tall, well above six feet in height, and they had pale green skin and long, messy, straight black hair. They were nigh on skeletal in appearance, but very strong and very fast. Their teeth were like long yellow tombstones, and their eyes grey and incredibly bloodshot. Their noses were long and crooked, and their fingers were bony, with razor-sharp nails. They were monsters inside and out, and so ugly that they would strike fear in the heart of any man.

Eldrin continued to tear away at the still warm flesh of the deer. She tore at the skin around the head and then devoured the eyeballs, enjoying the way they exploded delightfully into her foul mouth. She hacked away further at the head and reached in, tearing out the small brain. She devoured it in seconds, the blood smothering her face. When she had finished, she carefully removed and cut to length the remaining skin, which she would use to keep herself warm in the cold nights of winter.

She went into her bedroom and lay on the wooden bed that she had carved out of a trunk. She spat onto a piece of dog fur that she had kept from a previous meal, and then wiped her pale green skin clean of blood. She tried to relax, but could not shake the visions of all of the killing and the death.

She recalled her sister Grotchin torturing a man in her chambers. As the man pleaded for his life, Grotchin poured a black fluid down his throat, forcing him to drink every last drop. Unbeknownst to the man, it contained tiny, tiny little spiders. Grotchin then cast a spell which caused the spiders to grow at a very fast rate. The man started to scream out loud, tearing at his own skin, and crying out loud, pleading for her to stop. The spiders grew larger and larger and started to crawl around the man’s insides, and then they started to push their way out. Little legs could be seen all over his body as the spiders tried to escape. Minutes passed and the man voice shrieked at an extremely high pitch as the spiders finally broke from his skin, hundreds and hundreds of them tearing from his body. A few more minutes passed and the shrieking stopped. All that was left was a red mush. Grotchin got to her knees and drank it up. It made Eldrin want to puke – she could not bear it.

Another time, she recalled both Lisbeth and Grotchin torturing a woman. They smiled at each other and took it in turns to break bones in her body. They competed with each other, trying to inflict as much pain as they could to the poor woman. When the woman became unconscious, they then waited patiently until she awoke, and then the breaking and splintering of bones started again. When they became bored, they both tore into her flesh, eating her alive and enjoying every last scream until she died.

Eldrin closed her eyes and tried to sleep, knowing full well that the torturous dreams would never let her sleep, all the while she lived, and she was going to live forever.

Sam awoke early the next day and rubbed the magic dust from his eyes. He climbed out of his bed and marched down the stairs to get his breakfast. He reached up to the cupboard and pulled out a box of sugar puffs and a large bowl. He then went to the fridge for milk, looking around to see if his father was around first. The coast was clear: his parents were still in bed, and so he started to pour the milk as carefully as he could, trying not to spill a drop. His mission was a success.

He marched back up to his bedroom, found a space on the floor amongst his toys and sat cross-legged. Sam took large scoops from his breakfast bowl and filled his mouth with his tasty cereal. Milk poured down his chin and onto his pyjamas and he smiled – he was having a good time. When he had finished every last bit of his sugar puffs, he licked his bowl and then leaned back against his bed, looking at his toys, wondering what to play with first.

Sam drifted off into a little dream world and started to remember things about his experience in the wood. He remembered the skull, he remembered feeling sick, and he remembered that somebody else was there – someone who had helped him. Sam thought about the white orbs of light and it occurred to him that it must have been magic. He was only seven years of age, but he knew about magic and what was real and what wasn’t. He wondered about the person that had helped him, and then wondered why they never stuck around. His attention was soon diverted by his Superman doll, and he started to play.

Clare and John finally awoke from their slumber. John quickly dressed in his blue jeans, white T-shirt and lumberjack shirt, and made his way to the bathroom for a quick wash. Clare yawned, and then eased herself out of bed. She slipped on her blue jeans, doing up the top button with ease and smiling to herself. She had kept herself in good shape and her tummy was a flat as a pancake. She then slipped on a figure-hugging black blouse and started to brush her long brown hair to get all of the knots out. She thought about little Sam and decided to go and check on him.

Clare knocked on Sam’s door. “May I come in?”

“Yes, Mummy!” said Sam, wiping his chin to make sure all traces of milk were gone.

“How are you feeling today?” said Clare, sitting on Sam’s bed and then stroking his soft blonde hair.

“I feel fine! I’ve had my breakfast and now I’m playing. Can I go and visit Harry today, Mum?” said Sam, excitedly.

“I’ll give his mum a call and I’ll let you know,” said Clare, smiling at her brave little soldier.

Clare went downstairs and picked up the phone. She noticed that John was already in the front room, watching TV and drinking a can of lager. She grimaced at the idea of lager for breakfast. Hardly the breakfast of champions, she thought to herself. She dialled the telephone number for Belinda, Harry’s mum. After a quick catch-up with Belinda, she nipped up to see Sam.