The world of all things lost: An Ellham Woods Adventure, #1

By John Parnham

Lost in the woods

Two young  10 year old girls Ariana and Chevelle, go into the mysterious Ellham Woods to pick wildflowers. They soon discover that they have entered a different world where all lost things go. They realize that they themselves are lost and are forced into a long and challenging journey to find their way home.
On their travels, they discover that it's a challenging place for two nine-year-olds.
What and whom will they meet as they go across hills and valleys?
They know that if they want to see their families again, they will need all their courage and determination as they go on their grand adventure.
What or whom will they meet on the way? Will they get home?

This is an exciting fantasy adventure for kids aged--8----11

Read less

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hatterstown-authors.co.uk
• Release date: Jun 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223929017

Book preview

Hide and Seek Copy

An Ellham Woods Adventure

John Parnham

image-placeholder

Hatterstown-authors.co.uk

Hide and Seek

An Ellham Woods Adventure

With illustrations by

Caterina Baldi

Copyright

Text © 2023 by John Parnham

Cover design and illustrations © 2023 by Caterina Baldi

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form such as photocopying or recording or in any retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. British and European copyright laws for promotional or educational purposes. Permission can be sought by Email: [e-mail]

The moral rights of John Parnham and Caterina Baldi to be identified as the author and the illustrator has been asserted.

This is a work of fiction and all characters and places, except for Waltham Abbey, and its surroundings, in the county of Essex in England in the UK, are fictional. Any similarities between persons living or dead are purely coincidental. The author accepts no responsibility for any such similarities that may occur in real life or literature.

Credits:

Author: John Parnham

Cover art and illustrations: Caterina Baldi

Editors: Haydn Middleton, Julie Hoyle, Cecile Shanahan

Published by Hatterstown-authors.co.uk

ISBN: ebook 9781739898533

ISBN: Paperback 9781739898540

Contents

Notes

Dedication

Epigraph

Fullpage Image

1. Emily

Fullpage Image

2. The Abbey

Fullpage Image

3. The village

4. The fox

Fullpage Image

5.Cover your head

6.Hunted

Fullpage Image

7.The wedding

8.Holy Cross

Fullpage Image

9.The King

Fullpage Image

10.The Lodge

11.The River

Fullpage Image

12.Arrival

13.The field

14.The Hunt

Fullpage Image

15.The Boy

16.Looking for Gilles

Fullpage Image

17.Into the Lion’s Mouth

18.Matthew

Fullpage Image

19.Judgement

20.The Castle

21.Strange happenings

Fullpage Image

22.Darcy’s trouble

Fullpage Image

23.Home

Fullpage Image

Epilogue

Afterword

About the author

Chapter

Also by

Request: Please leave a review

Notes

While you're reading the book, you will notice some small numbers written in the text as you go along. These are for notes at the end of the chapters. You can ignore them and carry on reading, if that's what you want to do.

If you're interested, you could look them up and find out some interesting facts from history. Or you could read the book and go back and find them later. It's up to you. They will also help you understand some things mentioned in the book that you might not have known.

There are some names that you might find difficult to read and pronounce, so here they are before you read the book: They are also mentioned in the notes at the end of the chapters to remind you.

Guillaume pronounced Gee-ohm

Gilles pronounced zheels

DeStaen pronounced Dee-stan

Avice pronounced A-vees.

I dedicate this book to the loving memory of my late Mother, Jessie Parnham,

a kind soul who was generous to others and was a person of faith.

She entered the clouds of dementia in her latter years and left us at the age of ninety in 2022

May God bless her memory and her soul.

Hide and seek is a fun game

but if you play it in Ellham woods

you may seek and never find

because Ellham Woods has its secrets.

What are its mysteries?

What strange stories can it tell?

You could ask Emily

but she will never, ever tell you.

image-placeholder

Chapter one

Emily

image-placeholder

Emily Dustan sat on the green metal gate outside Ellham Woods. She was dressed in her favourite black skull T-shirt, ripped jeans and black boots. She looked around.

What a great place to play hide and seek with all those trees to hide behind, she thought.

She wriggled uncomfortably, on the cold hard steel, swinging her legs and looking at the time on her mobile phone.

Where’s Darcy? thought Emily. She said she’d be here at seven o’clock and it’s twenty-five past. I bet her Mum’s being a pain again. She’s ten years old, like me. Her mum treats her like a baby. It’s ridiculous.

She scratched her head, trying to rid herself of a tiny insect that had crawled onto her scalp through her long black hair.

She stared out onto the road which led to the village of Greater Godwinton. Come on Darcy. Where are you? Emily sighed, knowing that there was nothing she could do but wait. Her thoughts turned to daydreams. She smiled as she remembered how, a few months ago, at school, she'd leaned over to Aiden Coleman and said in a loud whisper, ‘I’m a vampire and I’m hungry for blood.’

His cheeks turned a strange shade of pale, his eyes widened and he turned away from her trembling.

The headmistress had summoned her to the office a week later. Mrs Moran looked down at her with fierce eyes.

‘Emily, I’ve had a complaint about your behaviour. Aiden Colman’s parents told me that a nasty girl–namely you–frightened Aiden so much that he’s had nightmares for a week. Why did you do it?’

Emily sniggered.

‘Did you think it was funny? Wipe that smile off your face. I think it’s dreadful. Emily Dustan, I’m ashamed of you. Don’t think you’ll get away with this young lady. Report to Mrs Friar after school.’

They gave her detention for two weeks and she had to write five hundred lines that read, "I must not frighten other children". Aiden had snitched on her and told them how scared he was of her and why. She wouldn’t forgive him for that. The little worm, she thought.

Then she remembered last Friday morning. She arrived at school with a realistic pair of plastic fangs in her mouth but she was careful not to speak or smile, in case her teacher, Mrs Ledbourne, noticed them.

She sat at her desk waiting for the right moment. When it came, she looked across at Aiden Coleman, sitting three desks away from her. When nobody else was looking, she bared her fangs at him. His eyes widened, like a frightened cat, and his body tensed up. He turned away, not daring to look at her. Emily laughed as she remembered.

Serves him right for telling tales, she thought. She looked down the road into the distance. Her friend, Darcy appeared jogging along, struggling to catch her breath.

‘Come on, hurry up!’ yelled Emily.

‘I’m doing my best,’ answered Darcy panting, her wavy brown hair blowing about in the wind as she approached Emily. Darcy shuddered as a cold draught blew on the back of her neck. She zipped up her hoodie and pulled the hood up over her head.

‘Where have you been?’ asked Emily, ‘You’re late. It’ll be dark soon and we’ll have to go home.’

‘I thought you were meeting me at my house.’ said Darcy, frowning.

‘No, I wasn’t. You don’t listen, do you? I said we would meet at the gate by the woods.’

‘Mum made me tidy my room. I said I was going out but she wouldn’t listen. How long have you been here?’

‘Ages,’ replied Emily. ‘My mum’s horrible boyfriend, Jason, or Pigface as I call him, was picking on me and dragged me off the sofa, so I grabbed a glass of water from the table and threw it at him. Then Mum shouted at me to leave and not come back until it gets dark. She always blames me when it’s his fault. I hate him. Never mind, we’re here now. Let’s go in.’

‘Let’s go that way,’ said Darcy pointing to the right. It’s more fun if you don’t stick to the path. It’s much easier to find a hiding place. Come on then, let’s go.’ Emily jumped off the gate and her feet landed with a thump.

They tramped through the woods, twigs crunching beneath their shoes. She looked ahead and said, ‘The last person to reach that oak tree is a durbrain.’

They ran through the woods, trying not to trip over branches or bump into tree trunks. They ducked under low branches and Darcy slipped on a patch of mud.

‘Woooh!’ she cried. She grabbed a branch and clung to it and managed to stay on her feet. Emily stopped and turned towards Darcy.

‘Come on. What are you messing about at?’

She turned away and sprinted towards the giant oak tree. Upon reaching it, she stretched out her arms and stopped herself with the flat of her hands on the rough bark. Darcy jogged towards her, struggling to control her breathing.

‘Come on, durbrain,’ shouted Emily. Darcy frowned as she approached her friend. She stopped, gasping for breath.

‘If I hadn’t slipped over, I would have caught up with you.’

‘A likely story,’ replied Emily, grinning at her. She turned, pointed further into the woods and said, ‘Let's go that way.’

‘Oh, okay, ’replied Darcy. Emily took the lead. Darcy looked around and noticed the fading light as they walked into the gloomy woodlands.

‘Maybe we should turn back. We don't want to get lost in here,’ said Darcy. 'It's getting late.’

‘No, it's not, Come on.’

‘I don't want to, it's spooky in here.’

‘It was your idea. Come on, keep walking.’

‘It was a bad idea,’ replied Darcy. She followed reluctantly behind, occasionally looking back as the gloom turned slowly into darkness.

Suddenly, there was a loud screeching sound above the treetops. Darcy looked up and stopped in her tracks.

‘What was that?’ she asked, her heart drumming in her chest.

‘Maybe it was the voice of a long-dead spirit crying in agony,’ said Emily, knowing that it was a barn owl.

‘Stop it, you're scaring me,’ said Darcy.

‘Haven't you heard of the Ellham Woods ghosts who roam round the woods at night?’

‘Stop it. This is one of your stories. You're making it up.’ She looked around and behind her, in case some strange ghostly creature should creep up on her. She looked back and halted, reluctant to go any further. Emily stopped, turned, and said, ‘Have you heard of Nancy Hare, ¹ the witch who lived in the trees?’

‘Stop it, Emily. I want to go home.’

‘They say she haunts the woods and casts deadly curses on anyone she sees.’

‘That’s just a stupid story.’

‘Come on. Don’t be such a wuss.’ Emily turned and walked on.

The treetops rustled above them as they wandered into the encircling gloom.

Darcy followed behind Emily as they trudged further into the woods and then she stopped. Emily carried on, unaware that she'd left her friend behind. As she walked on, she realised she could hear only one set of footsteps. She turned around.

Darcy was nowhere in sight.

‘Darcy, where are you? Darcy? Stop messing about. Come on. You didn’t say we were playing the game yet. You should’ve told me. Alright, I’m coming–ready or not. You can’t hide from me!’ she exclaimed.

Emily searched around. She looked behind a tall Sycamore tree but Darcy wasn’t there. The trees gave way to a clearing. Over to her left, there was a large pile of logs, big enough to hide behind. Emily crept up to them, hoping that she could jump out at Darcy and startle her, but on further investigation, she realised there was no sign that Darcy had been there. She was convinced that her friend was hiding somewhere close by.

Standing next to a beech tree was a large holly tree. Its branches and prickly leaves were spread out, making it as wide as it was tall.

I bet she’s behind that bush, thought Emily.

‘Come out, Darcy. I know you're there.’

She was about to look around the other side of it when she heard the sound of rustling leaves and the cracking of twigs being downtrodden in front of her in the distance.

She turned towards it.

‘There you are. I’m coming after you,’ She ran towards the sound, grinning. Then she heard a familiar voice.

‘Let go of me go! Get off me!’

Emily heard her friend's voice protesting as she was dragged away.

She stopped dead, unable to move. An icy shiver ran up and down her back and her blood turned to ice as she realised what had happened. Somebody had kidnapped Darcy.

‘Darcy!’ she cried, tears rolling down her cheeks. She ran forward, not looking where she was going. Everything was a blur. She tripped over a tree root and landed flat on her face. After the shock had subsided, she pushed herself up with her hands. In a wild panic, she forced herself up onto her feet and ran towards the place where she’d heard Darcy’s voice, her feet pounding the woodlands floor. She felt inside her pocket for her mobile phone, wanting to use the light but to her horror, it had slipped out and was lying somewhere on the ground.

She looked around, her eyes scanning every inch of the woods but she could only see shadowy trees in the growing darkness.

This is all my fault, I shouldn’t have been so selfish. I should have turned back when she asked me to, sobbed Emily to herself. I have to find her.

Panicking, she ran deeper into the woods, not looking where she was going, dodging the trees as best as she could. Finally, she stopped and fell to her knees huffing and wheezing, not able to take another step. As a sound came from behind her, she stood up and turned. Two tall men appeared from behind the trees. Emily froze and the hairs stood up on the back of her neck. She turned and fled, sprinting wildly in any direction, trying to escape. The men followed her.

‘Come back,’ shouted one of them.

She tried to shake them off, weaving from side to side between the trees but because there were two of them, she couldn't outrun them. From behind, the heavy sound of their boots grew louder and louder. Her feet pounded the forest floor. She couldn’t keep up the pace. One of the men caught up with her, running by her side. He reached out his hand and grabbed her arm, pulling her back until she slowed to a halt.

‘Ow. Let go!’ she cried. The other man grabbed her right arm. She thrashed around trying to