Illustration by Cass Thomas

Twelve Orchards Brow

Orchards Brow stood deserted, hidden beneath a carpet of freshly laid snow.
An icy wind whipped between the houses in an excited frenzy, forcing the
residents to take shelter inside their warm homes.

Thick grey clouds, slashed with crimson darkened the sky. Except for the lone
figure floating outside the upstairs window of number twelve, not a soul stirred,
or a dog barked.  Today though, like most days, the creature silently waited,

crouched beneath the long shadows. Watching. Waiting. An invisible prisoner.

As if sensing the creature’s presence, the young girl looked up from her book
and glanced towards the window. It shrunk further into the shadows, even though
it knew it couldn’t be seen. With nothing amiss, she shrugged and returned to her

book. 

The creature rode the wind with graceful ease. Sleet savaged its exposed skin,
sinking deep into its sandy flesh. It gasped, as the fleshless fingers of guilt
reached inside its chest, squeezing the life from its beating heart.

It reached forward, weary, knowing the inevitable. As its fingers grazed the outer
world an invisible sheath snapped around its body, throwing it towards the storm.
It tried again, but to no avail. Even though the two worlds ran parallel, in perfect
harmony, without an invitation the human was nothing more than a ghostly mirage.
This girl was clever though and at some point she would find the book; she would
sever their shackled bond forever.

A sudden whistling hopped across the wind. The Creature cocked its head,
listening, reaching inside its pocket. In its hand rocked a small rubber ball.
It threw it hard against the pavement, where a hole, right of next-door’s garden
wall, opened up.  The creature dropped into it and vanished. A second later, the

hole turned in on itself and that too vanished.

Orchards Brow stood deserted once more.

To read Chapter One, visit Karen's website and click on 'Books'.