An Encounter In The Mist (Completed)

Chapter 1 - The Phantom Coach

An Encounter In The Mist - Chapter 1 - The Phantom Coach
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It was about 4pm in the afternoon in late November 1885 when my male servant and I decided to leave the "Stagecoach Inn" and make our way along a dark and rather dirty track.

Both of us viewed the fret moving in from the local Dorset coast along the causeway which was a thin strip of land divided from the mainland and the sea.

We quickly realised that if our transport doesn't arrive here soon then we might end up getting lost or even worse drowning.

As afternoon turned in to evening we both witnessed a faint light appearing through the gloom of this darkness and rather atmospheric mist.

Suddenly a black shire horse came in to our view which was pulling a rather old looking coach,we waited patiently to get on board and begin our journey along a rather murky and filthy track.

It was at this point that I asked my servant if he had seen the driver pulling the reins on the horse,"No sir",he replied.

It was a pea soup of a fog which had moved in from the south west

We both agreed that it would be difficult to ascertain what the driver looked like or if indeed if there was one at all holding the reins to this coach.

It was only after a short while in to our journey that my senses made me aware that there was a stench of death or something rotting in the air besides us.

In the blink of an eye assisted by a slight chink of moonlight we discovered that we weren't alone in the coach.Our eyes focused on another passenger who was sat in a dark corner opposite us.

This fellow wore a dark black hat which was slightly tipped over his rather menacingly looking eyes.

"Good evening sir,are you off to Blandford tonight like my servant and I?",I enquired,but no answer was afforded as he stared back at me with menace and evil in his red eyes.

It was not long in to our journey that the horse stopped off for a short break on the track which we were travelling on.

I looked up and expected to see the driver appear but when I got out of the coach he had gone as the mist started to clear.

There was no signs of life or evidence that there had been anyone controlling the horse as we searched in a woodland area close to where we had stopped,we then discovered this old cabin in the woods.

In the meantime we were surprised to discover that our passenger had also disappeared yet neither one of us had seen him walk by us prior to us leaving for the woods.

As we returned to the coach we were about to get back in to our seats when there was a sudden jolt followed by a bolt of light.

Then the horse and coach disappeared on their own in front of our disbelieving eyes on this dark and mysterious night in Dorset.