The Witches of Barrow Wood (5 page)

She looked towards her front door, and to her horror, there was a very tall woman standing there wearing a long dark cloak. She stared at Janice with a sickening grin.

“Good evening – I was hoping for something a little fatter,” said Lisbeth, and then she let out a terrifying cackle.

“Who are you? Get out of my home! You are not invited,” said Janice, starting to tremble.

“I am but a humble dinner guest,” said Lisbeth, baring her long, yellow, tombstone-like teeth.

“Please, get out of my home, or I’ll call the police,” said Janice, as sternly as she was able.

“Call what?” said Lisbeth.

Grotchin sneaked up behind Janice without her noticing, and then in a split second, she tore Janice’s head clean from her body and threw the head, smashing out of the front window. Before the body could hit the ground, Lisbeth was ripping out her insides, and devouring them like a dog that hadn’t eaten for months. Grotchin got down on the blood-soaked carpet and joined in, ripping out her heart and tearing it with her teeth, swallowing huge chunks at a time. When the meal was over, the sisters made their way out onto the front lawn. Grotchin, noticing the head, picked it up and thrusted it onto one of the pointed fence posts – the sisters wailed out loud.

“I fancy some younger meat, sister,” said Grotchin, with a foul smile and bits of flesh hanging from her teeth. “You’ll give yourself a stomach cramp, my love. Take your time – after all, we have all night,” said Lisbeth, already making her way to the next cottage.

Little Harry was staying up late with his mum, watching television with a big bag of crisps. Every now and then, he glanced down at his Power Rangers watch, and smiled. His watch was his pride and joy, and every time he looked at it, he imagined that he, too, was a Power Ranger, and he, too, could fight off monsters. How wrong he was.

“Right, little soldier, it’s time for your bedtime, now give mummy a kiss,” said Belinda, smiling at her little boy.

“Okay, mummy,” said Harry, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

“Night, night, don’t let the bed bugs bite. I love you!”

“I love you more!” said Harry.

Belinda heard a rapping at the door, and decided to take a look. She strolled to the front door, and opened it on the safety chain. No one was there. She decided that she must be hearing things, and then sat back down to watch a little more television.

Harry moseyed into his room and switched on the light. He felt a little cold, and so went over to close the window, which was wide open. He then pulled the curtains and looked around the ceiling for any unwanted spiders – it was all clear. He decided to wear his Spiderman pyjamas to bed, so quickly got himself changed, and then decided not to brush his teeth.

Harry noticed a strange smell, and it appeared to be coming from the wardrobe, so he decided to take a look, all the while holding on tightly to his Power Rangers watch to give him courage. He grabbed the handle and pulled it open.

Lisbeth shrieked out loud, and pounced out of the wardrobe at Harry, whilst at the same time slashing his windpipe with her razor-sharp nails. Harry fell back, unable to speak, holding onto his neck, whilst blood flooded out down his favourite pyjamas. All of a sudden, his feet were tugged by Grotchin, who was hidden under the bed. He fell flat on his face and was barely conscious. Lisbeth grinned at her sister, and gestured her to get the mum.

Grotchin flew down the stairs with incredible speed, and before Belinda could react, Grotchin lifted her into the air by her throat, so that she could not squeal or utter a single word. All Belinda could think of was her little boy – where was her little boy? Grotchin carried Belinda up the stairs, clenching tighter and tighter on her throat. As they came to the bedroom, Belinda’s heart sank. Her little boy was sprawled out on the floor, soaked in blood, and dying. Belinda couldn’t understand what was happening. She wondered who the creatures in her house were, and why they had hurt her little boy.

Lisbeth stared into Belinda’s eyes, and as she did, she gently slit her wrists, so that she would bleed out slowly, and suffer, as she watched the last waking moments of her little boy’s life. Grotchin threw her to the ground, and the sisters cackled as they started to leave, enjoying every last second of their sick escapade.

Belinda crawled to her little boy, crying uncontrollably, and got to him just as the last twinkle of life left his little brown eyes. She held Harry’s limp, warm body close to her chest, and cried so much that she could not breathe – and then she started to feel cold, as the last drops of life left her body.

As Lisbeth and Grotchin left the home of the Barlows, they stopped suddenly in the road, staring inquisitively at a strange object coming towards them. As it approached, blue lights appeared on the top, and then it came to a halt. It was the police, and of course, the sisters had never seen a car before.

The officers approached them, and the twins walked straight past them, ignoring them, but intrigued by the metal chariot in which they arrived. Lisbeth looked at Grotchin with a curious expression upon her ugly pale green face. She approached one of the officers, who was named PC Benton.

“What year is this?” said Lisbeth, hissing at the constable.

“I ask the questions! Now tell me – what are you two doing skulking around at this hour?” said the PC, riled by Lisbeth’s audacity.

Lisbeth became infuriated, and she grabbed the policeman by the throat, squeezing tightly with her razor-sharp nails. “I said what year is it?” She stared deep into the now frightened man’s eyes, inflicting every ounce of loathing she had for humankind on him.

PC Benton just about managed to choke out his reply, “It’s … 2012!”

At that moment, PC Harley pulled out his pepper spray, and saturated the witches’ face with it. Lisbeth’s eyes became blood red, and her temperature went through the roof – she was livid! She then ripped out PC Benton’s throat and dropped him. He gurgled on the floor as his life left him. Grotchin grabbed PC Harley’s arms and held them tightly behind him. The constable struggled, but it was useless. Lisbeth walked up close to him and bared her long, yellow tombstone-like teeth; she then squinted her eyes, and ground her teeth, letting her rage build bit by bit.

All of a sudden, Lisbeth leapt on him, sinking her teeth into his skull, tearing off a huge chunk of flesh and destroying part of his head. He screamed out loud in pain, and the sisters smiled. Savouring the kill, Lisbeth slashed her large razor sharp nail across the PC’s forehead, and a large flap of skin hung loosely. She carefully grabbed the loose piece of flesh and pulled it, tugging the skin slowly from the dying man’s face. Grotchin was ecstatic, and then took her turn, sinking her teeth deep into his neck and tearing it apart. He fell to the floor, dead on impact.

Oblivious to the kill, Lisbeth looked at her sister. “We’ve been buried for hundreds of years sister, and we will make the world pay for it – we will make it pay!” said Lisbeth, screaming out loud, and spitting a mouthful of phlegm on the bloody bodies at her feet.

Grotchin smiled, “No more quick deaths, though, sister. Let us take our time, and savour each and every kill.”

Lisbeth cackled. “We’ll tear them all into hundreds of pieces, my love.”

Eldrin flicked through the pages frantically. At first, she had no clue what she was looking for, and then she stumbled across it – a spell for raising the dead – a spell that would resurrect the tortured souls of those buried within the barrows.

She began the incantation, and uttered the words of the spell in her mind. She had her eyes closed, and focused intently, and she dug down deep with all of her heart, and what remained of her soul. If the spell was cast incorrectly, with dark magic such as this, it could mean the end of her wretched life, and an eternity in hell. Also, if she failed, God help humankind.

Minutes passed by, and then she opened her eyes. They were as black as the darkest night. The spell was complete, and Eldrin stood still, and listened to the wood. Whispers could be heard, and the wind started to howl, and spirits started to race about Eldrin’s home. The air was thick with the stench of death, as the tortured souls gathered to wait for instruction.

Eldrin shouted out loud in her foul-sounding husky voice, “Kill Lisbeth and Grotchin, tear their wretched souls from this Earth, and let them never return.”

The spirits made haste, towards the barrows scattered within the wood, to find the empty carcasses in which they once walked the Earth. Eldrin ran at a speed of about forty miles per hour, racing though the wood towards the village of Barrow.

The floor of the woodland started to tremble as the barrows started to break apart. The skeletons of the tortured souls started to maul their way to the surface. Bony fingers pushed their way through the dirt, and then heaved the bodies to the surface. Eldrin reached the edge of the wood and then turned to look behind her. Hundreds of skeletons made their way towards her. Some were partially covered in the remnants of the clothing in which they were murdered. Some were crawling along the ground because their lower bodies had been too badly crushed at the hands of the evil twins. Some limped with broken bones, while others were twisted and deformed. They all stood at the edge of the wood, and then Eldrin pointed out the sisters. The skeletons’ jaws opened wide, baring their broken teeth as they hissed, and then they made speed towards the village of Barrow, hungry for the blood of their butchers.

Lisbeth and Grotchin sensed that something was amiss. They looked at each other curiously, and then turned to look towards the wood. When they saw the onslaught, they grinned – they feared nothing! Lisbeth started uttering a spell – a spell that would unleash a spirit that would see to it that no one in the village of Barrow would live to see another day. The spell was complete, and she cackled hideously at Eldrin and her army of the dead, knowing full well that they were too late.

The wind howled angrily, and out of the darkness came an entity so dark and terrible, that for any human to hear it, see it, or even be in the same room as it, would die – in a split second. The spirit was shaped similarly to a human, but as a vapour that shifted its form, with a face of death, white and black and distorted.

The spirit flew into the homes of those in Barrow, and destroyed the souls of every living member, causing death in an instant. In just a matter of minutes, every human being in the village was dead. When the spirit’s work was done, it vanished until summoned again.

Lisbeth screamed with delight with the knowledge of the death toll, and then she readied herself for an imminent strike from the skeletons. Grotchin stood close to her sister, and they both bared their long, yellow, tombstone-like teeth.

Lisbeth uttered a spell and then clapped her hands in front of her – boom! Ten skeletons scattered into tiny particles of white dust. Grotchin wasn’t quick enough, and before she could react, there were five skeletons grabbing at her, climbing on her, and scratching viciously at her face. Grotchin cackled out loud – mocking them, as her wounds healed in an instant.

“You think you can harm me? Pathetic! You should have stayed dead,” said Grotchin, irritated by the bony onslaught.

Grotchin’s temperature started to rise, and her reflexes started to operate at astonishing speed. In seconds, she had thrown the skeletons from her, littering the ground with smashed up bones. She then composed herself, and copied Lisbeth’s spell, and clapped her hands in front of her, turning nine skeletons to dust.

Both sisters stood side by side and uttered their spell out loud, and then both at the same time, clapped their hands in front of them – boom! The skeletons’ attack was useless. Every last one of them scattered to dust, creating a fog that left the twins blinded in the dark.

Eldrin stood back and watched, grinning to herself. The tortured souls of the barrows wanted revenge, using the bodies in which they occupied when they were alive, but they were much more powerful in their ghostly form. The ghouls gathered up at Eldrin’s side, and then Eldrin gave the signal to advance.

The evil twins walked into the fog to find their sister. As it started to clear, the sisters froze. The tortured souls’ attack came on strong, with dozens of the ghostly entities heading straight at the twins. Before Lisbeth and Grotchin could react, the phantoms gathered them up, lifting them high into the air, and binding them, so that they could not move an inch. Lisbeth shrieked at the top of her voice, but her cries and curses were useless. The spectres were all about them, and inside of them, smothering them and making them gasp for air.

Eldrin signalled the entities to bring the sisters into the wood, and then she ran at top speed towards her home. When she arrived, she retrieved her book, and stood in front of the large tree that was the foundation for her dwelling. She flicked through the pages until she found the spell that she was looking for – and then she cast it.

The tortured souls arrived with the sisters, still ten feet in the air. Eldrin instructed them to release the twins beside the tree. As they did, the sisters started to run at Eldrin. All of a sudden, the tree’s mighty roots shot out of the ground and grabbed the sisters, wrapping around and around and pulling tightly. Lisbeth cursed and spat.

“Let us go, sister, or I will crucify you over and over again for a thousand years,” said Lisbeth, her eyes bulbous and dripping blood as the tree crushed her with its roots.

“I will tear every last bit of skin from your body, piece by piece, and saturate you with salt as I do so – let us go, you freak!” said Grotchin, fuming and wanting vengeance.

Eldrin picked up her blunted axe and heaved it up behind her. “You two do not deserve to live. I hope you rot in hell, because I’ll be damned if I’ll let you hurt another living thing.”

With that, Eldrin hacked at Lisbeth’s neck, as Grotchin screamed at the top of her lungs – a sickening cry. Eldrin hacked and hacked, and after five swings, finally her sister’s head fell to the ground in a bloody mess. She then swung the axe at Grotchin, again and again, until she wailed no more, and her head landed on Lisbeth’s in a tangled heap.