Beneath the Elder Tree Read Online Free PDF Page A

I had to move on. And I have. And I know that some day I’ll see my family again and there will be joy between us once more. Why should there be sorrow when we will meet again in a better place?’
       ‘I’ll see my family again?’
       ‘Undoubtedly.’
       ‘It could be an entire lifetime before that happens.’
       ‘You’re going to live forever, Lucy. Is waiting a lifetime such a big deal? Is it really so bad that you’ll be stuck in this world for a few years?’
       ‘All right, you made your point.’
       ‘Good. Let’s get going.’
       ‘Where to this time?’
       ‘You’ll see when we get there.’
       ‘I hope this will be more pleasant than what you’ve just shown me.’
       We walked for almost thirty minutes along a road that was very familiar to me. I’d come this way the day before, returning from band practice at Susan’s house. We’d been working really hard of late and were only a month away from playing our first proper gig.
       The journey was uneventful until I suddenly felt drained of all my strength and had to stop. I leaned on a garden wall and my spirit body grew heavy, as if it was made of lead. Emily also seemed to weaken visibly and her eyes went very dull.
       ‘Don’t rest here,’ she insisted. ‘This place is not good for us.’
       ‘What’s so special about this spot?’
       I caught her glancing over the wall at a house behind me. Her eyes pulsed red for an instant before fading to white.
       ‘There’s something in that house, isn’t there?’ I turned to examine the façade of the three storey building. The house looked derelict and the garden was overgrown, with litter strewn about it. The tall windows were black and impenetrable. I could see nothing inside but I felt a presence within those walls. An unkind presence.
       ‘This is an evil place.’ Emily whispered. ‘Don’t ever come here again.’
       ‘What’s evil about it?’ I asked as I stared at the grimy windows of the house. ‘Why is this house any different to all the other houses on this street?’
       ‘The house is just bricks and mortar,’ Emily said quietly. ‘It’s what’s inside.’
       ‘Tell me what it is?’
       ‘Not now.’ She tugged at me and her face betrayed the fear that she was feeling. ‘Please, let’s go.’
       Emily claimed she was an adult but I suspected that because she died young, she would never truly be a grown-up. A part of her would always be the little girl that lost her life when she was eight years old. I felt protective of her because of her youthful appearance, and didn’t want her to be afraid. I pushed myself from the wall, took her hand and staggered away from the mysterious house.
       ‘You all right?’ I asked her.
       ‘Of course I am,’ Emily spat. She was obviously embarrassed that she’d shown some vulnerability in front of me. It was written all over her face. ‘I’m a veteran of this place. I’m always all right.’
       ‘What was that back there? What was in the house?’
       ‘I’ll explain it to you later.’
       She paced ahead of me and took to a road that was leading us away from Hampton. I doubted I would ever return to my home town. There was nothing but sorrow for me there, anyway. Every street and every face would remind me of my former life and the fact that it had been cut short so cruelly. I lamented all that was gone and that was to be. I mourned my own passing.
       ‘Stop dwelling on the negative,’ Emily said over her shoulder as she shuffled along the pavement.
       ‘I can’t help it. There were so many things I wanted to do. I never played a gig with my friends. I never travelled to other countries. I never found true love...’
       ‘I know you didn’t.’ Emily waited for me to catch up. ‘I know exactly how you feel. I never got to do any of those things either. I too have contemplated all the wonderful things that I missed out on. It serves