Lady Of The Island

Interesting Developments

Bertram took off his tophat and placed it onto the coffee table on his left. Taking a deep breath, he began to recount.

"Where to begin? Well, Thomas And The Magic Railroad had just released around the world and flopped in the box office, terribly. It barely made back it's budget, which was a large slap in the face for us on the island. The reception had an awful fallout, I'll tell you that. Less and less people began to take our railway seriously - which made our engines have a distain for the books and the television series, especially Gordon."

He rested his head on the armchair and sighed.

"One night, I recieved a piece of that, what do you call it, electronic mail from a fan. I was delighted to read it, you know - I always loved hearing from fans. Unfortunately, this message wasn't very kind. The fan said that they had lost interest in my famous engines and that the movie had just killed the inner fan."

Bertram shrugged.

"This broke my heart, of course. So, I decided to go for a little stroll in the night...you know...for stress relief. Well, you'll never guess what happened!" He forced a laugh. "I got lost! Shocking, I know! I ended up somewhere near Kirk Ronan, the absolute state of the town. I walked through the unusually empty town that night, for what felt like hours. I had a feeling that I was being followed, yet I just guessed that one of the Vicarstown drunks had taken a hitch here."

As he paused, I felt a shiver through my spine. I knew where this was going...or so I thought.

"I continued to walk until I heard some ruckus nearby in the garage, presumably a group of ratty teenagers trying to steal some hubcaps or something useless like that, so I went to give them a good telling off, the old fashioned way!"

Another pause.

"However, when I arrived, it wasn't a group of teenagers. There was nothing there. I continued inside and did see a shadow get cast from the open storage room so I walked towards it. However, when I walked inside, I saw a young woman turned away from me. I did the only acceptable thing and tapped her on the shoulder...She turned around and there was the most horrific sight. The left side of her face was melted, she was missing the eye on the same side. A large chunk of her nose was missing and there sat a few drips of gold sparkle underneath her right eyeball and on her fingers. Her dress was torn and she was covered in dry blood. I'll never forget the face of that monster."

...what?
....the monster couldn't be a human, could it?

"She watched me raise my hands and walk away, but that wasn't enough for her. I don't know what I had walked in on, but she didn't want me knowing about it. The THING grabbed me and thrust a dagger into my neck, before fleeing and leaving me in a puddle of my own blood - calling for help. Luckily, someone nearby heard me and called an ambulance, saving me just in time. After a brief time in the hospital, I was forced to resign from my position and stay here, hidden away - giving my job away to Richard, my Son. Jane says it's best for me, you see. That woman might still be out there."

I shook myself a little to shake off the slight fear - putting down my notepad.

"It might be. I don't know what I've gotten myself into, but I have a feeling that it's too much for me."

"Well, you've gotten this far." Bertram grinned. "Why don't you go all in and try to figure out what exactly is causing this monster to appear? Maybe then, I could leave this place..."

"Now, now, Father...Don't encourage him." Ruth had reappeared, holding a cup of tea - which she placed onto the coffee table. "Recklessness causes suffering, and we dont want that. Gra
ay seems a good fellow."