Long Alley

By Michael T Ashgillian

After several sighting of what appears to be an innocent young woman near an ancient set of almshouses an investigative radio show investigates. But is this really a haunting and is the young woman as harmless as she seems?

One of six short stories also published in an anthology by the author under the title 'Pieces of Fate'.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Red Cap Publishing
• Release date: Apr 10, 2011
• ISBN: 9780956436993

Michael T Ashgillian

David P Elliot was born in Reading in the UK and, apart from 8 years in the Police Service in the 1970s, he spent almost 30 years in the IT industry before leaving to concentrate on his first love, writing. His debut novel ‘CLAN’, to which ‘The Gathering’ is a sequel, is a historical, supernatural thriller, first published in December 2008 and so far has sold in 16 countries, as well as being translated into German and can be downloaded as an audio book in MP3 or iPod formats narrated by the author. He has 3 grown up children and 3 grandchildren one of which inspired the novel. He now lives in Faringdon UK, with his partner Monika, a native of Munich. ‘Pieces of Fate’ his second book is an anthology of short stories in the ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ mode and is available in paperback or as an e-book, with the individual stories available only in e-book form. He is also working on developing ‘Clan’ as a feature film. You can find out more at www.davidpelliot.com

Book preview

LONG ALLEY

A Short Story

by

David P Elliot

Part of the ‘Pieces of Fate’ Series

RED CAP PUBLISHING

Red Cap Publishing

LONG ALLEY

David P Elliot

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © David P Elliot 2010, 2011

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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This is a work of fiction. The characters, events and places are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used totally fictitiously.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright holder.

Cover Artwork by DARE

LONG ALLEY

ONE

Steve Finding hadn’t expected to see Mary again.

It had been six months since his first and only encounter with her at Jennings Cottage in the village of Grove in Oxfordshire, and he had not returned to the place since.

Of course, it was possible he might, under normal circumstances, have expected at some time to bump into her. Oxfordshire isn’t that big a place and as a radio presenter, he spent a good chunk of his time visiting local towns and villages for his radio show.

But the main reason he did not expect to see her again was because she died in 1871.

His radio show ‘Finding Ghosts’ was, it seems, under a little pressure from the programme commissioners.

Ratings, which had been good until recently, were slipping; as it seemed listeners were beginning to lose interest in a show that, whilst ostensibly investigating incidents of ghost sightings and other paranormal activity, tended to very quickly dismiss them with a more rational explanation than a restless spirit.

But it was probably, he thought, more a case of him taking his eye off the ball and forgetting that the main objective of his programme was to entertain rather than inform.

It seemed a good proportion of his listeners did not want rationality. They wanted spirits, ghoulies, blood and guts, not a simple explanation for why these things didn’t really exist.

The irony of it all was not, however, lost on him.

Before Mary, he had never believed in ghosts.

Every investigation, every sighting, every single so-called occurrence of supernatural activity he and his researchers, Darren Masters and Sue Williams had examined, had proven to be explainable with logic and science.

Every single one that is - except the Jennings Cottage incident and his first encounter with Mary.

The irony being that this had been precisely the one story that he had been unable to broadcast.

Firstly, because the only person to see the ghosts (there had been two) was Finding himself, and he was not about to make himself a laughing stock by going ‘public’ with no supporting evidence - and secondly, the couple who owned the cottage and originally reported the incident were unable or unwilling to provide consent and support for the story.

Julie, the wife, was dead and her husband Brian was in prison serving two years for causing her death by drunken driving.

Since that time it seemed, somehow, Finding’s enthusiasm for the job had waned and he had clearly just been going through the motions.

After all, there seemed little point in continuing, if he couldn’t even tell the truth when the truth was really worth telling.

But now, here she was again - unexpected, uninvited and definitely unwanted.

He had awoken from a deep sleep made deeper by one or two more drinks than had been good for him after last night’s show, and seen her.

She was sitting quietly in the armchair by the window, observing him.

A startled cry escaped his lips, and he shot up to a sitting position, clutching at his chest as his heart threatened to burst through his rib cage.

His initial reaction, terror, was understandable; waking, as he had, from a deep sleep in his own bed to find a young woman, dead for close on 150 years, sitting staring at him.

His heart rate dropped slightly from what seemed to him a dangerously high level, as he realised she apparently was not going to attack him, drink his blood, rip out his soul and drag him screaming into Hell, or whatever it was that ghosts were supposed to do to humans.

She was simply sitting there, looking at him.

He sat up in bed wondering what to do next.

Strangely, since he slept naked he was reluctant to get out of the bed in front of her and then, realising how ridiculous it was to be embarrassed in the presence of a long-dead young woman, he threw his legs over the side of the bed and stood up shakily.

Still feeling vulnerable and not altogether confident, he nevertheless found himself wrapping the duvet around him.

But then, as he turned to her again, she was gone, and he stood staring for a few brief seconds at the empty chair before cautiously approaching it and patting the surface of the seat, as if he was expecting to be able to detect some small remaining trace of her presence.

There was none.

TWO

Finding sat in the conference room of the radio station in Banbury Road with his producer, John Wilson and the ‘Finding Ghosts’ researchers Darren & Sue, discussing the final details of the next show.

Once again, he was feeling a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the tale of the alleged poltergeist activity affecting two early teenage girls in a council house in Reading.

Despite the absolute assurances of the girls’ mother that she had witnessed items of furniture moving of their own accord, or flying across the room as well as screaming and hysteria from the girls who were, clearly in her view, possessed by demons; once again the story had come to nothing.

These ‘absolute assurances’ had become somewhat less absolute when a motion-activated camera and recorder, fitted with night vision and planted secretly in the girls’ room by Sue, whilst Darren and Finding kept the occupants talking in the kitchen, revealed the truth.

Later, the girls were filmed discussing when the next poltergeist experience should occur, apparently deciding that, as