An English Ghost Story Read Online Free PDF

Naremore life was threatened. Tim had a dent in his forehead, near the hairline, from the worse of the two crashes. He was always careful to fasten his seat belt now, even when sitting in a parked car. Jordan had been in the accident too, but only sustained minor bruises. She remembered the instant of grinding terror, though.
    Jordan saw Mum had spotted the turn-off. They had their own signpost: THE HOLLOW ½M . On large-scale maps, the place was listed as if it were a tiny village separate from the already-tiny-enough Sutton Mallet.
    The signpost was a pick-up point for the school buses she and Tim would be catching come September. Because of a discrepancy in the educational systems of town and country, it was easier to let them miss a month or so at the end of this academic year and start fresh in the autumn, after an extended holiday which stretched ahead like an eternity. Tim would be joining Class Six of primary school in Huish Episcopi. She would be in the second year at Sedgwater College.
    Her old college let her sit her mocks a month early, to help with the move. She had done as well as expected. Exams had never been among her problems. That was one of the reasons few noticed the problems she did have: as long as she got marks in school, all must be right at home and in her heart.
    There was no point thinking like that. Things were different now.
    She could hardly believe it herself, but last night in the cramped B&B room, even before they were in the Hollow, she had breathed easier and slept well. Weights which had pressed down on her for as long as she could remember were lifted. She wanted to call Rick as soon as possible, and tell him how she felt, how things were changing. Without Rick, she might not have made it through the dark forest to this clearing.
    Mum’s list ran on as she drove along the turn-off that became the drive of the Hollow. At this rate, her parents would still be on the phone to each other when they were face to face.
    ‘Nearly there, Steven,’ said Mum. ‘I’ll click off.’
    She put the car phone in its dashboard cradle, and checked on Jordan and Tim with glances up at the rear-view mirror and to the side.
    ‘You two have everything sorted? We’ve a lot to get through today.’
    Getting the major moving-in done in one day was important to Mum and Dad. They wanted to sleep soundly in their new house and wake up the next morning to find themselves at home.
    For Jordan, it would be different. It would take months of exploring and teasing and rearranging and experimenting before she was settled. It would be like when she started going out with Rick, and wasn’t quite sure what to make of him but knew it would be all right in the end. She looked forward to the long business of moving-in. It would be an adventure, just as Rick had been – was still – an adventure.
    ‘Your LL has been noted and processed, ma’am,’ said Tim.
    ‘LL?’ queried Mum.
    ‘Lengthy List,’ Jordan explained.
    Tim’s acronyms often annoyed Mum, but now she laughed, half-turned and accepted her son’s salute.
    Tim wore baggy camouflage trousers, a green-black T-shirt and an SAS-style black beret. For this mission, he had tiger-striped his face grey and green and gold.
    Jordan sometimes thought her little brother inhabited one of those weird zones. Then again, she was hardly one to speak up. None of the Ne’er-do-well Naremores could stand for the Average Normal Party.
    ‘Where’s he got to?’ Mum asked.
    They were driving through the gate, over the bridge – less rickety-rackety after the concrete fix-up required by what Tim called the SS, Sinister Survey – and onto (into?) the Hollow. Mum looked around for Dad.
    They had agreed, in a way Jordan thought was sweet, that he should not go into the house –
their
house – without them. The family should take the first step inside together.
    Dad should be outside.
    ‘You could always give him a bell,’ Jordan suggested.
    Mum instinctively reached for