25.1.09

Wooooo, woooooo - scary stuff!

I wrote this for Sunday Scribblings
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I noticed the clock on my kitchen wall had stopped. Apart from that, the morning was pretty much the same as any other.

I rummaged through the drawer in search of a new battery. I found AA’s, D’s and an old No.6, but the only A I came across was a lumpy sticky one!

Anyway I carried on with my routine – showered, got dressed and had breakfast. Toast it was. I prefer croissants, especially the pan-au-chocolat type, the straight ones with square ends and two chocolate worms through the middle, but I didn’t have any.

As I’ve told you before I have a bit of a short term memory problem. That’s why I often end my blog posts with a different subject to, woops, from the one I started with!

Where was I? Oh yes, I was just about to put my coat on and leave for work when I looked at the clock on the kitchen wall and thought ‘Oh, I’m early. I’ll have another mug of coffee’. It was only when I switched the telly onto News 24 I discovered it was nine o’clock and I was very late for work!

But when I got to school the children were still arriving! ‘How odd’ I thought. ‘I’m not late at all’

It was a normal kind of day and on my way home that afternoon I purchased a couple of new batteries for the clock.

When I walked in the door it felt odd. I can’t say exactly what it was, but something made me shiver. It was a really strange sensation.

I took my coat into the bedroom, and there on the floor was a white bed sheet, the one I’d folded up and placed on the chair the day before. Again I shivered, I don’t know why.

I joked with myself about there having been a phantom in the house while I was away, and a strange aura had remained!

I remembered being told once that ghosts pop white sheets over their heads when they want to be seen. When I told my friends they all laughed, but I thought there may just be some truth in it.

And right then the hair was standing up on the back of my neck. At least I think it was. I’ve never actually seen the hair on the back of anyone’s neck stand up!

I then noticed that the TV was turned on. It was tuned into Ghostwatch on Channel Four. Now I know I am in the habit of forgetting to turn it off so I wasn't entirely surprised. But ‘weird’ I thought, because the last thing I watched was BBC News 24 this morning. I was now getting more than a little spooked.

I went into the kitchen to get a bottle of chardonnay from the fridge and I noticed a cereal bowl with a few soggy cornflakes in the bottom. But I’d had toast for breckie and had fantasised about pan-au-chocolat. And the mug – it was half full of cold tea. I’d thought I’d had coffee.

Something was playing with my mind. I grabbed a jar of dried garlic to keep me safe – I didn’t have any of the real stuff, but I hoped it would have the same effect.

I was feeling a little shaky so I went back to my bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. It was then it happened. I could not believe my eyes.

The white bed sheet on the floor began to move!

I was petrified.

Then slowly a head appeared from underneath the sheet, a fluffy head with big round eyes.

It was my cat Fuzzybutt looking as frightened as me! Then a tail appeared from the other end of the sheet. I couldn’t help laughing – it looked as if Fuzz was six feet long! But it was Scruff’s tail. They both came out and jumped on my lap. They were shaking.

‘Let’s all pull ourselves together’ I shouted. I stood up and the cats jumped onto the floor. I remembered the battery for the clock and thought that then was the perfect time to stick it in. So the three of us went back to the kitchen.

And then the oddest thing of all. The clock was merrily ticking away. And not just that, the hands were showing the right time. ‘Oo–er’ I thought. Fuzzeybutt and Scruff looked up at me with their tails between their legs.

What happened that day, I really don’t know. Did time stand still? Did nothing I thought I’d done actually happen? Had a spirit – a phantom been in my home?

I guess I’ll never know, and if you believe that story you’ll believe anything!

12 comments:

  1. haha YOU sweet rosey never fail to make me smile from ear to ear!
    Yes I thought the sheet may be the cat, but the cereal?? woooohhhh a ghost indeed! Better make sure you keep those garlic flakes with u at all times! xo

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  2. Anonymous26.1.09

    You had me going... great tale!

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  3. Rosey, you are being - well I guess I should say you're being Rosey!

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  4. I believe. Strange. Happenings. The clock thingie happens a lot, but the cereal and sheet-sized fuzzybutts are surely ghostly. :) excellent tale!

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  5. Loved your post. I've had cats most of my life, and I had to laugh out loud when I came to the part about fuzzybutt & scruff in the sheet. Your writing is so charming and always makes me smile.

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  6. Lots of fun. I liked the ending in particular.

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  7. Anonymous26.1.09

    What a fun story! I love the ghostly critters at the end. Rabbits will do the same thing--romp around under a sheet until you swear the thing is alive.

    I don't know of any pets that drink tea and leave cereal bowls in the fridge, though. Unless the kitty has grown thumbs, you might want to keep checking over your shoulder!

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  8. allrighty them.... that is certainly freaky stuff!!!!

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  9. very cleverly done rosey.. the pleasure was definitely all mine.....

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  10. There for a minute I expected that you'd gone into the wrong house. Very funny tale.

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  11. So who is a storyteller now huh?

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  12. Oh Rosey, that was a great story! I have to say, it was pretty creepy, though. I loved the part about the cats (great names, by the way). I've been enjoying your stuff for a while now--think I'll become a follower :)

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