The Northern Chronicles

By Deborah.C. Foulkes

A collection of short chilling stories, many based in the area of Yorkshire where I live.
There is the story of a young boy with a special gift. A mother and daughter fighting a terrifying beast in their home and one woman's fight to find out if the life she leads is real or the product of some insane fantasy. Plus a few more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Deborah.C. Foulkes
• Release date: Oct 31, 2010
• ISBN: 9781458164292

Deborah.C. Foulkes

From North Yorkshire living under the shadow of a medieval abbey I use the building as a centre to create a fantasy world about Gods,Angels and Demons. I am heavily influenced by the Brothers Grimm, Stephen King and James Herbert. I also live with my daughter who has an uncanny ability to talk to animals and my neurotic cat.

Book preview

Introduction

Even though I am half Welsh on my father’s side and I have lived in London and Northampton, Yorkshire is where my heart is. I am a Yorkshire girl through and through and I am proud of where I live. York is one place where I feel so safe and settled and if you could truly belong to a place York would be it. Saying that I don’t live in York, I live, instead in a small market town just down the road from the historic city and though we don’t have the Minster or the Norman walls we do have our own ancient Abbey.

Most of these stories are set around the York and Selby area and will hopefully comprise a series of short screenplays in the near future. So with this in mind I would like to thank one of my most talented and supportive friends Ben Shaw, who is currently working through The Northern Chronicles Screenplays with me to make them perfect. So in the meantime please enjoy these short stories where the Chronicles originated from.

This story was inspired by my nephew Curtis who was born on 6/6/09. I instantly referred to him as Damien, with his blue eyes and blond hair. So this story started off as being about one thing, but like many of my stories turned into something else entirely. So enjoy!

THE CARRIER

‘What’s your name?’

Diane’s eyes snapped open at the sound of Curtis’ voice in the darkness, and inwardly sighed. It had been the second night this week and that was not counting the other times in the past few months. Rubbing her eyes, she tried to focus on the LCD on her clock. 2:30 am−again. Always at the same time of the morning. Steve mumbled and stirred beside her. An atom bomb wouldn't even wake him.

‘Why ya here?’

This time she sat up and listened intently. It had begun a few months ago when she had woken at the exact same time to Curtis’ voice. She had gone to his room and found him sitting up within his cot bed, eyes wide and awake. Diane had asked him if he was alright, but he had just smiled at her with his dribble wet mouth.

Now, Diane’s heart started to race. She found she was suddenly frozen to her bed with an unspoken fear, yet had no idea what she there was to be frightened of. All children had imaginary friends; however, it was the fact at eighteen months old, his speech was less than perfect and yet, whenever he was talking to this ‘friend’ his diction was near on faultless.

She knew Steve would just laugh at her if she even tried to attempt to talk to him about it. He always mocked and teased her. He really could be an insensitive arse at times, but she was Curtis’ mother, and she knew deep down there was something not right.

‘But I love my mummy.’

Curtis’ voice brought her back from her thoughts. Deciding to swallow fear, she fumbled in the darkness for her robe and padded her way across the landing. As she walked towards the nursery door she stopped suddenly. The door was shut. She never closed it. He would cry if she even attempted it, yet there it was now firmly closed. The room had also seemed to drop in temperature, and she found herself pulling the robe tighter around her body.

She reached out for the door knob and instantly felt her flesh prickle as the door opened. Diane gasped slightly at what felt like a wall of ice seemed to strike her. She stepped into the cold room and looked about her. Everything seemed normal from the blue bear wallpaper to the baby blue shag pile carpet that felt soft under her toes, yet something was different. She could feel it, but could not place it.

She looked towards where Curtis laid and frowned. His bum was high in the air and his slow rhythmic breathing told her he was in a deep sleep, but she had heard him talking. Shivering, she checked his window and satisfied it was shut tight pulled the duvet back over him. She looked down at his sleeping body and though still confused admitted defeat and went back to bed. Her hormones were probably making her go crazy again. That’s all she ever seemed to do these days, blame her hormones.

Steve pulled her closer to him as she fell into the warmth of the bed. It was the only time he ever showed her any affection these days. Since Curtis’ birth he had acted as though she was invisible and she had often suspected him of having an affair, but could never confront him with it. The warmth of his body made her eyes go heavy again and soon she had drifted into a sleep once more.

Diane woke with a start, looking at the clock she frowned it was 2:30am. How could that be? She made to sit up and nearly cried out in fright.

‘Curtis, what’s wrong?’ She asked, breathlessly.

He pulled his thumb from his mouth with a wet pop and held his hand out for her to take. She felt herself resist at first, something was very wrong. His eyes, though it was dark seemed to shine like sapphires in the darkness as he pushed his hand toward her again. This time she took it and it felt cold in her grasp.

‘You need to come wi’ me,’ he said.

‘What do you mean sweetheart?’ She asked.

She allowed him lead her towards the landing and there again was that chill. She felt so cold her flesh crawled. Her breathing quickened as she drew closer to Curtis’ open door. She did not remember it being so dark in there before.

She looked down at Curtis and he smiled at her and she wondered what it was about this blue eyed, blond haired boy in Bob The Builder PJ’s that scared her. She felt him squeeze her hand as they both stepped over the threshold to his room and slowly the door began to close behind them.

Steve placed Curtis back into the pushchair and wrapped him back up. It was starting to rain and having just had his MMR injections he did not want him getting ill again. He had to admit he had struggled since Curtis had been born, but he had done his best. He could remember vividly that night. The screaming and begs from Diane for it all to stop and all he could do was watch helplessly as 2:30am approached and Curtis arrived into the world. He had tried to love Curtis as much as he could, but the dark