The House in the Woods | Sarah

By Sid Cooper

Sarah leaves the orphanage where she grew up after losing all her family in a fatal car accident when she was a baby. She travels to her first job and the location where she is to work as a secretary is a mysterious dark and gloomy house in the middle of a wood.

None of the local population will go near it because they believe it is haunted. Sarah too is frightened but she doesnt believe in ghosts, so she takes control of herself and marches bravely up to the front door and knocks loudly. Eventually, the door is opened by a strange man, tall and with stooped shoulders, who never speaks but ushers her in and upstairs to where she meets her employer, Mr Tod.

How Sarah uncovers the mysteries of the dark house is gradually revealed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Jun 29, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483661025

Sid Cooper

Sid Cooper was born, grew up and was educated in London. He now lives in Hod Hasharon in Israel and teaches English in a primary school and privately. This book was written for the benefit of his students and it was they who pressed him to publish it.

Book preview

THE

HOUSE in the

WOODS

Sarah

Sid Cooper

Copyright © 2013 by Sid Cooper.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013911596

ISBN: Hardcover 978-1-4836-6101-8

Softcover 978-1-4836-6100-1

Ebook 978-1-4836-6102-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 06/26/2013

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris LLC

1-800-455-039

www.Xlibris.com.au

504439

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

The House In The Woods

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Sarah

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

THE HOUSE

IN THE WOODS

CHAPTER 1

The big dark grey house stood alone, surrounded by tall trees which hid it completely from view from any of the roads in the vicinity.

The wind moaned eerily through the dark foliage of the trees and gave a ghostly feel to the house and to the entire area.

Although it was evening, there were no lights showing in any of the many windows of the house except for one dim light visible in one window on an upper floor.

The young lady arrived at the local railway station, which seemed deserted apart from the old stationmaster and when she enquired politely for directions to the house, he laughed in a curious way. She asked him if there was a taxi which could take her there and he laughed again before answering shortly: Old Ben can take you there in his horse and cart, and added if he will.

She found ‘Old Ben’ outside the station, dozing lightly in the seat of what he called his carriage but was really more like an old cart. When she told him where she wanted to go, he looked shocked and said Oh, you don’t want to go there.

But she insisted firmly, I have to go there; I have a job there.

Oh, alright then, said ‘Old Ben’ and he helped her to put her suitcase onto the cart and she carefully got on too. They rode steadily for some distance, gradually going more and more slowly until they stopped.

Are we there? she asked, mystified because she couldn’t see any building nearby. This is as far as I’m going, Ben answered in a surly voice.

You can walk along that lane and you’ll come to it.

The girl got out of the cart, took her suitcase and began to walk along the narrow, twisting path. As she did, she heard Old Ben give a strange, cackling laugh, rather like that of the stationmaster and even the horse gave a curious sort of neigh.

The lane twisted and turned crazily between the tall trees which creaked as the moaning wind passed through their foliage. It was quite dark and she struggled just to keep to the path. She felt quite scared but she didn’t have any choice but to press on and eventually, the forest opened into a clearing and she saw before her, standing forbiddingly, the great dark house.

She gulped and clasped her hand to her chest to steady her nerves. Then, gathering her courage, she determinedly strode forward to the great wooden door and banged hard on it.

After what seemed like eternity, the door yielded a crack and then opened with a loud creak that suggested it hadn’t been opened for a long time before. By the light from a small candle, she was able to discern a tall man with stooped shoulders, looking at her without any sign of curiosity.

He didn’t utter a sound but motioned to her to enter the house and follow him. He took her suitcase and moved in complete silence over the stone floor but her heels made a loud clatter as she walked across the large hall. The noise of her footsteps embarrassed her and she tried to walk on the sides of her feet to avoid that noisy clip clop.

He led her up some stairs, all in the dim illumination from the small candle and ushered her through a door, into a room which was also lit by a solitary candle. Seated in an armchair, swathed in blankets, sat an old man behind a large table, completely covered by books and papers.

In a high pitched, squeaky voice, he said,

Come in; so you’re the new girl. I hope you had a pleasant journey.

She gulped, Thank you, and he continued "We’ve had many girls here before but none of them lasted more than a week. I don’t know what happened to them then. I hope you will stay longer.

She gulped again, Thank you.

"Bentink will show you to your room and will bring you supper soon. I won’t join you. I don’t eat supper; in fact I don’t eat very