Natalie Thompson stood in the kitchen of the blue cottage, away from the stench of rotting fish and the constant darkness of the underworld.
She clasped her hands together and prayed that Ray would be okay. She hadn’t been seen, so they couldn’t prove anything – that’s what she told herself.
She stood still for a few moments, trying to gather her thoughts and then started to look around the house. She needed to find that book. She wondered if she would recognise it when she saw it. It’s green with a silver skull drawn on the front – that’s all she knew.
Natalie started rummaging through draws and opening cupboard doors. It took her over an hour to search the downstairs of the cottage thoroughly and yet she did not find the book.
She snuck upstairs and wondered if she would be able to search the bedrooms without waking Robert and Cora. She opened the door to the first bedroom on the landing and peered inside. Her glowing hair dimly lit the room. White floral wallpaper covered the walls and a long dressing table was pushed up against the adjacent wall.
Natalie pushed her head further round the door and looked for the bed which to her surprise was empty.
‘They’re not back yet,’ she realised.
Natalie quickly moved along the landing and carefully opened the door to Robert’s bedroom. His bed was also empty. She furrowed her brow and began rummaging through Robert’s bedroom – the book was not there. She returned to Cora’s room and emptied the draws. She then moved onto the wardrobe throwing clothes, shoes and a variety of other things out of the tall cupboard – the book was not there. Robert, Cora and the book had gone!
Natalie ran downstairs unlocked the window above the kitchen sink, knowing that she could not return to the underworld, and crawled through it. She pushed the window to a close and pulled out what looked to be a gold fountain pen from her pocket. Fortunately the sun had just set.
She held the pen above her head and jabbed it in the air. As she did this, one of the stars in the sky suddenly burned brighter than the others.
Natalie watched the star respond and she started writing, swishing the pen around with big, dramatic movements. As she wrote a run of light streamed from the star and mimicked the movement of the pen. It followed the pen, forming every letter and word until Natalie finished the sentence. It read;
‘The Star Catcher and the book have gone. Do I wait for their return? N.T.’
Natalie checked the message and put the pen back in her pocket. She returned to the wood she had hidden in the previous night and waited for an answer.
YOU ARE READING
The Bearded Man and The Ghost Girl
Roman pour Adolescents'Robert first saw the ghost girl standing in the churchyard. Her hair was long, her skin was pale and her body glowed, bathing the nearby graves in a cool white light. She was unlike any girl Robert had seen. Her face was unconventionally beautiful...
