The breeze whispered wistfully through the woods, trundling and turning this
way and that, pushing past bushes and carelessly whooshing up leaves from the ground. Then suddenly the gust dropped and silence fell over the dark wood.  Not a sound was heard from any living thing. An unearthly cry broke the silence and a blue light suddenly shone out of a cottage in the depths of the forest. Then, overwhelming silence once again, only a faint creak, creaking. A black hooded body swung slowly from a rope on a beam like a pendulum from side to side.

***

“Here ‘e is, father.”-The stable boy crossed himself.
An old Irish priest stooped with age, wearing a black hat, stood on the threshold, revolted by the sight and smell of the corpse.

“He must be buried soon.”-He mumbled struggling not wretch and covering his nose with a white handkerchief as he turned back over the doorway.

The boy stared at the hooded corpse swinging from the beam. Reaching out a filthy hand, he picked up a wooden spoon that was lying on top of a rough oak table. Curious, he poked the corpse with the end of the spoon. All of a sudden the rope snapped and the body fell on to the floor, the lad yelped and leapt back in surprise.

“Father! Look ‘ere at this!”-he shouted in alarm.

The clergyman turned back grumbling.

“He´s go’ a sea´orse on ‘is neck!”

The priest’s jaw dropped in horror as he recognized the scorched mark on the body.
Making a hasty sign of the cross he muttered:  “Holy Lord and Mother of God, evil is come among us!”

“Anna do you know you’ve got a thumb mark on you ankle?”

“Shush idiot.”-Anna whispered, covering her little brother’s mouth.

The grandfather clock’s hollow ticking echoed in the silent sitting room filled with warm morning sunlight.

“Why is she such a pain, anyway?”-Dick mouthed.

“She’s not a pain”-Anna muttered, squishing her lanky legs between the crouched boys -”she’s just blooming…”

“…bossy.”-Alex completed the sentence, grasping at the table leg for balance.
“Shhh.”

The oak door glided open over the cream coloured carpet. A pair of brown designer label high heels appeared under the other side of the flowery table cloth. Hesitating, the feet moved elegantly towards the next room. The children held their breath for what seemed like hours, their hearts thumping in their ears. Not daring to move, the children followed the footsteps without blinking. A soft click and then the TV presenter’s deep voice boomed through the room.

“This is Breakfast. Welcome to the nine o’clock news.

Prime Minister assures the public he has strong faith the end of the international financial crisis is in sight.

Police have reason to believe the “Hot Candy” group may be operating in the UK. 

Unpredicted earthquake in Indonesia kills millions. Experts dumbfounded by the natural disaster.

In tennis, the Spaniard Ignacio Casademont collects his third Grand Slam at this year’s US Open beating Aussy Roger White 3 sets to 2.

And now to regional news.

Good morning, welcome to BBC London. The peaceful county of Sussex is still in chaos since the disappearance of Katy Williams. The seven year old was reported missing by her parents 48 hours ago when she disappeared after school. John and Catherine Williams, from St Heatherastcold Sussex, plead for the return of their little Katy.”

When the brown shoes disappeared for an instant, the children took the opportunity to breathe carefully for a second.

“Katy disappeared after leaving school on Tuesday afternoon.”

The children jumped as the ancient grandfather clock struck the half hour, bumping their heads on the polished oak table.

“Police are continuing the search for the missing child yet the investigation points at parents as possible culprits.”

Abruptly the brown shoes re-entered the room searching for the source of the noise. The children eyed each other nervously, their hearts racing, praying not to be caught.
“In other news, Molly Jagarlamudi wins a merited Zee Cine award for lifetime achievements. Jagarlamudi was moved to tears by this honour from the film industry.”

“She’s gone,”- Alex whispered, peeping from under the chair. “Do you mind getting off my foot?”

“Sorry...”-Dick crawled out from under the table.

The children breathed normally again.

“Good,”-Anna stretched her cramped arms-”That gives us about…ten minutes to escape.”

“Don’t exaggerate, it gives us seconds.”-Shoving the smallest of the three out of the way, Alex peeped to make sure the coast was clear-”She’ll be back.”

“Where do we go now?!”-Dick panicked, rummaging in his pockets-”I don’t fancy…GARDENING!”-He moaned, eating a sticky old sweet.

Abruptly, swift footsteps could be heard descending the wooden staircase.

“Quick, through the patio door!”

The three of them scurried from under the table and through to the garden.

“Children?!”-A shrill voice came from the house.

The children darted through the large garden and crouched behind the overgrown rosebushes.

“Now what?”-Alex whispered.

“To the woods, now, RUN!”

***

“Ok, this is the last time I ever follow one of your brilliant ideas Anna.”-Dick groaned, dragging his feet through the crunchy leaves.

“You’re such a moaner Dick!”-Anna paused and stared at their dark surroundings.  The talk dark trees stared in silence at the young intruders.

“Um, you two…”-Alex cut in.

“Would you prefer to be gardening, shrimp?!”- Anna snapped, staring at Dick menacingly.
 
“At least I would have finished by now!”- The little boy plucked up his courage.

“Yeah, and you’d be looking at Aunt Hillary’s wedding photos, idiot!”- Raising her tone dangerously she leaped towards the small boy.

“Umm…you two.”- Alex pleaded.

“Shut up you nerd!”-the eldest raged exasperated by her younger brother.

Afraid of his sister’s temper, he hid behind a fallen tree trunk, “You don’t tell me to shut up,”-Dick shouted from his shelter-”… poo-face!”

Anna pounced as the little boy added these last words. Dick scrambled to his feet and ran round the clearing as fast as his short legs could carry him while Anna sped furiously behind him.

“You two!”-Alex shouted from the middle of the clearing, abruptly cutting off the chase.
“What?!!”

“Listen,”- Alex whispered uncertainly-”I think there’s someone else here.”

They all stood in the damp clearing, paralyzed. The children had been told again and again by their elders that they weren’t supposed to go into the woods in this part of the world alone. In the last few years, there were serious nutters knocking around dark corners of the seemingly calm forest.  The fact that every day there was news of disappearances didn’t help either, when they pleaded with their parents to let them explore the woods on their own.

“Intruders.”-A voice croaked from the shadows-”How dare you enter this sacred place.”

The three Spencerford siblings stared at each other in horror. Thinking of the quickest escape route possible, Anna mouthed to her brothers.

“When I say now we run…”

“But Anna…”-Alex mumbled.

“Get help...”-She insisted without making a sound-”On the count of three…”

“Intruders…”-the voice continued-”You must pay a heavy price…”

“One…”

“…and you will learn not to enter this sacred grove…”

“Two…”-Anna glanced at the boys quickly, feet ready to run behind them.

A cry and a thump.

A child crawled from under the bushes to their left at the same time as an identical figure jumped from one of the trees.

“Joe, you clumsy idiot, you ruined the climax!”-A bubbly voice muttered irritated.

“Shut up, my leg hurts!”-The child on the floor whined, massaging his mucky jeans.

The Spencerfords stood paralyzed in silence, staring at the two identical twelve year olds that had appeared from nowhere.

“Are you alright?”-The child that had jumped out of the tree held out a hand and helped the other one get up from the ground.

“Think so.”-The injured child stood up-”Next time, you’ll be the only one doing the climbing.”

“Whatever,”-The twin snorted-”You’re such a wimp.”

“Oh well, no point in keeping up the game now.”-Turning to the silent Spencerfords, the olive skinned child flashed an impeccably white smile and asked politely.-”Hi, who are you?”

“Um… I’m Anna,”-She answered hesitating, not knowing whether to laugh or not-”These are my brothers, the titchy one is Dick and the curly haired one is Alex.”

The boys didn’t change their freaked out expressions.

“Hi, I’m Jo and this is my brother Joe.”-The twin that had jumped out of the tree grinned.
“She’s my sister Joanne.”-her brother explained, noticing the Spencerfords’ puzzled expressions. 

“Thank you, JOSEPH, I think that went without saying.”

As a matter of fact Joanne, or Jo, was utterly wrong. The twins were not only very much alike, with their slim figures and almond eyes  but they also had their straight black hair cut in very similar hairstyles. To top it all off, as if it wasn’t already difficult to make out who was who, both of them were wearing blue hooded sweat shirts. The only noticeable difference was that Joanne’s trainers, which were barely visible under her baggy jeans, had pink laces.

“Anyway,”-Jo continued, fashioning her short hair into an untidy ponytail-”what are you doing in our camp?”

“We didn’t know it was your camp.”-Alex answered shortly.

“You must be new around here.”-Joe circled the children-”Everybody knows it’s our camp.”

“We are actually, new I mean,”-Dick chirped, plucking up his courage-”We’re staying with the old gramps here for two weeks. We’ve got a wedding and…”

“Who are your grandparents?”- Joe interrupted, inspecting the newcomers.

“The Spencerfords.”-Anna answered matter-of-factly.

“Ah, yeah, I know them.”-Jo smiled, offering the children some squashed mints she had found in her back pocket-”We’ve been mowing their lawn for quite a while now.”

“So you’re the mysterious grandchildren who were coming up from sunny Spain...”-Joe commented with sudden interest-”She’s been going on about you for two months!”

There was a moment’s silence as the children stared at each other trying to figure out what to make of their rivals.

“Are you Spanish then? Because you don’t look very Spanish to me.”

“No, we’re not Spanish.”-Anna answered irritated by all the silly questions-”We’re English. We just went to Spain while dad was working”-After a moments pause she added-”Our dad is an art restorer, you see.”

“Uh, fancy. Our dad’s an accountant,”-Joe commented staring discretely at Anna, then he laughed-”That’s a boring job if ever there was one! But at least mum’s job is nicer.”

“What is she?”-Dick asked, hoping for a blood-curdling answer.

“Mum’s a journalist.”-Jo grinned-”She’s a culinary critic in the local rag and she bakes nice cakes too,”-The young girl winked cheekily.

***

“…and this,”-Jo said pointing at an enormous hand made wigwam-”is our base.”

“Wow.”- Dick grinned admiring the brush wood structure.

“Thanks.”-Joe smiled, showing them in-”Dad helped us make it last year.”-he crawled inside behind their guests.

Every inch of the ground inside the relatively large conical space had been covered with some mucky hay, the walls were made of branches and from them hung all kinds of bits and bobs. A pack of the cheapest kind of juice was neatly stacked opposite the door, an old flowery pink sheet, next to an old tin full to the brim with biscuits and sweets.

“Make yourselves at home.”-Jo grinned as she offered their friends some sweets while her brother handed out the cards.

“Cheers.”-Dick slurped his juice.

Under the light of the torch that dangled from the ceiling next to the twins’ catapults, the children forgot the rest of the world existed with their new found friends.

***

“And what time do you call this?!”-Their grandmother shrieked just as the front door closed-”I’ve been looking for you all morning!”

None of them dared to answer. After years of experience, the children knew better, it was best just to let her have a shout.

“You three are the most disobedient, most ungrateful bunch of…”

“‘Ello, ‘Ello, ‘ello; anybody home?”- Their father’s deep voice echoed as he came into the house.

“In here Alfred.”- His mother beckoned him in humphingly.
The tall middle aged man came into the ancient kitchen and stared in surprise at the hassle.

“What’s all this then?”

“Your children are the naughtiest ones I’ve ever come across!”-Their grandmother sobbed in despair.

“Is that so?”-Mr Spencerford eyed them knowingly-”what have you done to upset your grandmother?”

“Nothing dad!”-Dick pleaded-”We just went out to play.”

“Without telling anybody where they were going or anything!”-The old lady burst out dramatically-”They’ve made me look for them all morning.”

“What have I told you lot a thousand times?”-Their father told them off-”You are not to wander off without telling anybody!”- His voice was getting increasingly louder-”You have to be careful in this part of the world! We’re not in Scotland anymore!”-Mr Spencerford was upset, he paced the kitchen nervously-”Don’t you three understand that there are some serious nutters around here?”

Sitting on the kitchen table, he sighed and stared for a second at each of his children.- “Now, apologize to your grandmother and go to your room!”

Promising half-heartedly they weren’t going to do it again, the children left the room, kissing their mother, who had just come in through the door, before going upstairs.
“Hysteric bunch aren’t they?”-Alex muttered.

“Not half.”-Anna sighed, picking up her book from the crowded bedside table.

“But it’s boring in here, Anna!”-Dick whined.

“I know, just read.”-Their sister snapped, searching for the page she had lost the day before.

Ten minutes later their grandmother waltzed into the room. 

“Well, I hope you lot have learned your lesson! Come on, it is lunch time,”-She announced.

The children didn’t say anything. The prim old lady went back downstairs, her designer slippers clunking softly as she descended the wooden steps.