pen. produce. publish.
for your entertainment
A powerful wizard released from his ancient prison possesses a young boy to seek his vampire bride.
Publisher: Dalton
Release: August 2008
Weekly Short Story
"The Carrot" by Mandy Ward (continued from the newsletter)
A hand slipped through the boards on the kitchen door and tore one of them off. One by one the boards were ripped away and the room saw sunlight for the first time in years. A voice from outside said:
“Phew! What a stink, stand back from there while it clears.”
A few minutes later the door was ripped from it’s hinges and the sunlight burst through, bathing the kitchen in light. A figure stepped through.
“Bloody Hell!” It said.
“What’s wrong Tom?” another voice enquired.
“It’s about time this place was torn down, it’s a health and safety hazard!”
Another figure stepped into the kitchen.
“My God! Look at that Death Cap! No wonder the local kids are scared of this place.” The second figure said.
“No.” Said Tom, “That’s not why they’re scared. There’s a local story that anyone, who goes in here, is never seen again. Any way Harry, we’d better take a look around, there might be a squatter and we don’t want the boss to look bad if there was.”
“What’dya mean?” Harry asked.
“Ah ya daftie! If we go ahead and tear the place down around the ears of a squatter, there’ll be hell to pay from the papers. You check the front room and the cellar, I’ll do in here and the dining room.”
Harry grimaced and stepping over the fungus that had already started to give up the ghost in the sunlight. He gingerly pulled open the cellar door and carefully began to make his way down the slippery stone steps. Tom carefully checked for signs of life in the kitchen, but apart from finding some odd shaped footprints there was nothing but fungus. He sighed as he negotiated his way across the room, idly trying to place the footprints. They weren’t like any animal he knew about, and in this type of place you usually found Rats at least, but there were no other tracks. He pushed open the dining room door, knocking a few fungi over.
As he was peering around in the gloom, he spotted something odd. He went over to the window and ripped the boards down so that he could see better.
In the corner of the Dining room was the largest carrot he had ever seen! It even had odd protrusions like arms and legs and feet. A cold shiver ran up his back as he studied the odd vegetable. It was at least 4 ft high and would weigh at least as much as a six-year-old child. He moved away, noticing that on the floor beside it lay a peanut shell. He was ripping more boards away from the window when Harry called “Tom you’d better come and see this, we’re going to have to call the police.”
Tom shrugged and went back through the kitchen and into the cellar. There in the pool of light from Harry’s torch lay four small bodies. Each one had a strange mark on their neck and the body was curiously desiccated, looking like it had been sun dried. Tom forgot all about the strange carrot and pulling out his mobile, called the police.
Several hours later Tom mentioned the strange carrot to the police. The policeman smiled and said “Probably your imagination Sir, a carrot couldn’t get that big with out some serious feeding!”
“Yes I know,” Tom said, “But it did seem almost alive.”
“Ok Sir.” The policeman smiled benevolently, but Tom could almost hear him thinking: ‘Poor bloke! What he saw in the cellar must have given him one hell of a shock!’
“Look I’ll show you!” Tom said firmly.
“Ok Sir.” The policeman was trying very hard not to laugh. He followed Tom into the house and picked his way into the dining room. The sunlight had moved round to illuminate the corner where Tom had seen the carrot, but it wasn’t there!
“See Sir?” The policeman hid a smile, “Nothing there but a pile of dust.” He turned away and left the building, leaving Tom staring at the corner in disbelief.
Tom crouched down in front of where the carrot had been and ran his hand through the dust. It felt soft and smooth, more like ashes than dust. As he sifted it through his fingers, something was left behind. Tom stared at it and stood up. He moved over to the window and examined it. It was the peanut shell he had spotted earlier. Curiously he turned it in his fingers and found on one side a mark almost exactly like the one that had been on the dead kid’s necks. A suspicion began to grow in his mind and he shook the shell. It rattled slightly as if the nut was still in there. Tom swallowed on a dry throat and the policeman’s words came back to him…“Probably your imagination Sir, a carrot couldn’t get that big with out some serious feeding!”