Chapter 11: The Farmhouse

 

After a casual stroll lasting approximately five minutes, Kaz and Titch arrived at the perimeter wall of a small derelict farm. The stone wall was just over a metre high at most. It surrounded both the main farmhouse and a number of smaller outhouses. An adjacent barn was missing part of its slate tiled roof. The entire complex was extensively overgrown due to years of neglect. Creeping vines trailed over the walls, completely covered them in many places and then merging itself into the surrounding dense flora of gorse, bramble and other invasive shrubs. The house and surrounding buildings were similarly under heavy attack from vexatious creeping ivy that had attached itself to every accessible crevice or crack in the walls in order to spread itself as wide and high as it could. Kaz and Titch followed the perimeter wall until they discovered a wide opening in the wall, which had once been the main entrance with white-painted wooden gates. The gates now lay badly broken and rotting at either side of the entry, also heavily strangled by the undergrowth. As they entered the property, Titch noticed an old wooden sign which was dangling from the broken gate, held by a single piece of rusty wire. “Hey Kaz, this must be the place. It says ‘Lewis Farm’.”

“So, the old man was telling the truth about this place then,” responded Kaz. The two storey farmhouse was built from layered stone and dated from the early seventeenth century. The exterior had been laboriously white ‘lime-washed’ many times over with large flakes now hanging loose exposing older green-tinged layers below. A chimney was positioned at each end of the steep, grey slate-tiled, gable roof. A large window was located on the ground level at the main entrance. Two smaller windows were on the upstairs level. The pair stopped near the porch which seemed to be the obvious entrance into the house. Titch took the initiative and knocked on the front door, but quickly receded back to a position behind Kaz.

“You scared someone might actually answer it,” Kaz chuckled.

“You never know who might be in there,” said Titch. Kaz thought there might be some truth in Titch’s cautiousness.

After a brief wait, Kaz walked up and tried the door latch. “It’s locked.” Titch peered through the front window.

“Can’t see nothing inside … it’s too dark.”

“Okay,” said Kaz cheerfully, “Let’s go.” She started to make her way back towards the path.

“Hey Kaz, I found a key,” said Titch, waving a large key in the air. Kaz swung around.

“Where’d you find that?”

“It was under the mat. Where else?” smiled Titch.

“You’re joking,” she said, walking back towards the porch. “Who’d be dumb enough to leave a key under the mat?”

“My mum does when she goes out.”

“Oh … okay then,” said Kaz meekly. Titch handed her the large key and Kaz inserted it carefully into the old lock. Turning the key took some effort, but finally the corroded bolt retracted. Kaz gripped the round brass knob, turned it and pushed the door ajar. It creaked noisily on its rusted hinges. The door would only open half way, but that was enough. Kaz stuck her head in and looked about. “It’s really dark in here,” she said as Titch followed close behind.

“Arghhh!” screamed Kaz, stepping back onto Titch.

“Wassup?”

“Damn cobwebs … everywhere.”

As Kaz and Titch slowly made their way into the main front room, they stood in awe for a few moments, hardly believing their eyes.

“Wow!” exclaimed Titch, “This is wicked!”

“Yeah it’s just amazing,” agreed Kaz, as she spun around the room taking it all in. The room was not the standard farmhouse room you would expect to see. In fact it was nothing like a room but more like a cave or grotto. The wooden staircase on the far wall leading up to the bedrooms was the only feature that really distinguished the room as a room. The room was very dark due to fact that the windows were covered with thick material, but as their eyes adjusted they then noticed that dark-coloured hessian hung from the walls and was also draped across the ceiling. Dotted around the room in wall alcoves or on shelves were all manner of brightly-coloured crystals and unusual-looking ornaments. Stuffed animals adorned each corner of the room. Nearest the door where they stood was a red fox on all fours with its mouth open and showing its sharp rows of white teeth. In the corner to the left was a large, grey, wild cat mounted in the most ferocious attack pose. In the far corner was a cute-looking weasel with a dark brown upper coat, and white belly and chest that extended along its unusually long body. And lastly, sitting in the right-hand corner was a large pure-white hare with a narrow face and long ears that looked like it had escaped from an Alice in Wonderland tale. In front of each animal was a pile of coloured sand set in varying patterns. Everything was covered in dust and cobwebs and whoever was once here had obviously long gone.

The most striking feature of the room had to be the large long-dead tree trunk strategically placed in the centre, which had a number of leafless branches that splayed out across the deepest blue ceiling. The tree was cut off flat at the point where it met the ceiling and it gave the illusion that it was holding up the ceiling. White candles were fixed to the branches with runs of old melted wax down their sides. On the floor around the base of the tree was painted a white circle. The circle was about two metres in diameter, with the tree in the centre.

“Well, what do you make of all this?” Kaz said as she gazed up at the candles perched upon a branch above her head.

“I’ve never seen anyfink like it,” replied Titch, stroking the fox’s head. “Wot’s all this mean?” Titch pointed to a number of symbols painted around the walls.

“Maybe the place was used by Witches or something,” suggested Kaz. “That symbol is definitely familiar,” she said as she pointed to a pentagram symbol. “I know I’m into this ‘Goth’ thing,” said Kaz, “… but this is really awesome. I wonder if mum will let me deck out my room like this when I get home.”

“IF … we get ’ome,” said Titch with some emphasis.

“There’s the staircase … so I suppose we might as well check out this room while were here,” said Kaz as she carefully swung her head clear of an overhanging branch. Kaz stopped at the base of the stairs and looked up. “It’s too dark to see anything up there. Hang on I’ll just let in some light.” She turned and tugged at the nearest curtain, which simply collapsed into a heap.

“Now you dun it.”

“I don’t think anyone’s going to be really bothered,” replied Kaz indignantly. By now Titch was on the staircase and stomping his way up.

“Titch! Be careful, you don’t …” There was suddenly a loud crack, followed by a plume of dust which quickly settled to reveal a gaping hole in the wooden stairs. “Titch … Titch … are you alright?” panicked Kaz.

Some coughing could be heard from beneath the staircase. “Yeah, I’m okay,” came a muffled reply. Within moments Titch popped his head through the gap, covered in dust and cobwebs. He gave a silly grin and then disappeared again. Following a quick thud, he reappeared through a small door from under the stairs. “Hey … look what I found,” he said as he held up an old book.

“Let’s see that,” asked Kaz. Titch obligingly passed Kaz the book and watched as she blew the dust off the cover and then wiped it on her sleeve. The book had an earthy-brown leather cover with a raised pentagram symbol on the cover. There were no inscriptions. Kaz eagerly flipped through the pages and then quickly closed it. “I think it’s a book of spells. We should put it back.”

“Why … don’t yer like spells?”

“It might belong to a witch and she might not like having the book moved or stolen.”

“Then do what I always do,” said Titch grinning wildly.

“Yes, and what might that be.”

“Just borrow it and always promise to return it … one day.”

“Well I suppose whoever did own it is probably long dead looking at the age of it,” said Kaz as she turned the book over in her hands. “I suppose I could just borrow it.” She gently placed the book in her backpack and went back to the task at hand. “Okay, this time we keep to the sides of the stairs, hopefully it should be a bit stronger, just be careful.”

Titch nodded in agreement. This time he was very careful where he placed his feet. Kaz let him climb at least four steps before she followed. Soon both had reached the landing at the top of the stairs. Three doors were available to them. Kaz opened the door opposite the top of the stairs, whilst Titch went to the door at the right. “Just a pile a junk in here,” said Titch, closing the door and then catching up with Kaz.

“This one’s the main bedroom and fairly sparse – so that leaves …” Titch raced to get to the other door first. “Watch out Titch - there might be rotten floor boards,” advised Kaz as Titch turned the doorknob.

“Oh yeah I forget,” Titch replied sheepishly as he entered the room, with Kaz closely following. The room was narrow with a window at the far end facing toward the back of the house. There was a rusty metal bed with a dirty and torn feather mattress pushed up against the left wall. An old mahogany wardrobe stood near the door and located under the window was a small child’s stool where a number of handmade wooden toys were scattered nearby. “Now wot did the ol’ fart say?”

“Something … under the floorboards … I think,” remembered Kaz.

“Okay.” Titch got down on all fours and set about trying to lift up the closest floorboard to him. Kaz wandered up and down the small room while tapping her shoe to see if anything was obvious. Eventually both gave up and looked around the room.

Kaz opened the door to the wardrobe and stepped back as a number of thick coats sprung outwards as if gasping for fresh air. “I wonder if there is snow on the other side and a lonely lamppost.”

“Yer wot?”

“Oh nothing, just something I read once,” replied Kaz candidly.

“Hey look here … under the bed,” called Titch excitedly. Titch had crouched down and was looking under the bed. Kaz got down and looked under.

“What?”

“There … notice the nails are lifted on those floorboards,” said Titch indicating a certain area.

“Oh yeah,” agreed Kaz. “Let’s shift the bed out the way.” Soon they had manhandled the heavy bed to sit against the opposite wall. They both examined the exposed boards.

“This must be one,” said Titch as he wobbled the board a little.

“It’s jammed - we need something to prise it up.”

“I’ve got a penknife. Hang on.” Titch rummaged through his pack and produced a small, steel, foldable penknife. He opened it up and began levering up one end of the board.

“Here, let me try this end,” said Kaz, holding out her hand.

“Here.” Titch handed her the knife. Kaz dug and chipped at one corner and it started to lift. When there was enough room to grip the plank, Kaz lifted it up and the loose nails gave way. “Hooray!” rejoiced Titch.

A small sack was tightly packed into the exposed gap between the joists. Kaz handed back the penknife to Titch and then reached in and tugged at the sack. It came free with little resistance. Kaz placed the sack on the floor and carefully untied the string that was firmly tied around the neck. Discarding the coarse string she gingerly opened the sack and put in a hand. The first thing she pulled out was a small jar of dark red fluid. “What the … is that?”

“Is that blood?” Titch stared intently at the jar as Kaz placed it on the floor and returned her attention to the bag. The next item was wrapped in bubble-wrap but tied with the same string as the sack. Again she untied the string and discarded the bubble-wrap, which Titch immediately seized upon and started popping the small air pockets. Kaz was so intrigued with what she held that she wasn’t listening to the intermittent popping noise. “And what the hell is this?” she said, as she held up a small device about the size of a cell phone. It was light blue and had a dark bluish screen with just one button. The button was white and had a black cross within a circle symbol on it.

Kaz instinctively and without thinking, pressed the button. Nothing happened. As an afterthought she realised pressing the button was probably not the smartest idea she had had that day. She placed the device on the floor and continued to rummage in the sack. For a moment she thought the sack was empty, but discovered a folded piece of paper at the very bottom. The paper was quite thick and resembled the handmade recycled note paper that was very popular these days. Kaz unfolded the paper and started reading the neatly scripted handwriting. She read it aloud so Titch could hear.

Dear Kaz and Titch,

I am sorry I cannot be with you in person today, but we are having some technical difficulties back here. I will explain all when you arrive.

There are three items in the sack; this letter, a Personal Accelerator Device (or PAD as we like to call it) and a small jar of special mulled herb-infused wine.

Please follow these simple steps and I will see you both soon:

1. Take the PAD and Bottle and go to the front gate.

2. Drink half the jar of wine each and wait two minutes.

3. Link or hold hands tightly.

4. Press the button on the PAD three times – holding it down on the third press. The PAD has been pre-set in advance.

5. If nothing happens after ten seconds then repeat step 4 again.

 

Good Luck!

Peter

 

“Let’s go try it,” said Titch excitedly jumping to his feet.

“I’m not sure about this ‘Personal Accelerator Device’ – we don’t know exactly what it does,” said Kaz as she picked up the device from the floor, “... and why do we have to drink this.” Kaz pointed to the jar.

Titch picked up the jar, turned it around, shook it and then opened the lid and took a large sniff. “Woo, that smells good,” he said, and then quickly screwed the lid back on.

“C’mon then let’s go,” instructed Kaz, taking the lead and heading for the stairs. Titch moved to keep up.

Standing by the gate, Kaz read the letter again. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” She looked around as if she was expecting someone to jump out of the bushes and say, “Gotcha, you’re on Funny TV.” But no one did.

Titch had now unscrewed the lid and was gulping down the sweet wine. He checked a couple of times to see if he had drunk half. He held up the jar to Kaz and said, “Here’s your half.”

“Thanks a lot, Titch,” she said rather anxiously. Kaz examined the colour and had a gentle sniff. It was not unpleasant, but the herbal vapours made her nose twitch and her eyes enlarge.

“It’s really yum, I’ll have it if you don’t,” said Titch holding out a hand.

“Well you’re not dead yet …,” she retorted sarcastically, “so I suppose it will be okay – and I could certainly do with a drink.” Without further ado, Kaz took a sip of the wine, and finding it more than agreeable to her taste, quickly swigged back the rest. She then handed the empty jar back to Titch, who simply tossed it into some nearby long grass.

Kaz held the PAD in her open hand and sighed, “Oh well, here’s goes nothing.” Titch grabbed her free hand and held it tight. “Now how am I supposed to press the button if you’re holding my hand?” Titch released his grip and let go. “Here hold my arm.” Kaz bent her elbow so Titch could link his arm with hers. Kaz could now operate the device, so as she hovered her right index finger over the button she said, “Okay here we go …”

As Kaz pressed the button in the sequence stated by the letter, Titch worriedly said, “Hey, you didn’t wait two minutes after drinking the wine.”

“Who cares, nothing happened any…”