Scary Tales to Tell in the Dark

by Anthony Masters

  ‘Watch it!’ Ben’s voice was shrill.

  ‘Watch what?’

  He clutched my arm and I found myself standing on the brink of a huge hole in the boards, the wicked swell glinting below me. Hurriedly I stepped back; looking at Ben, I saw that he was shaking.

  ‘This place is dangerous,’ he said.

  ‘We knew that,’ I reminded him, but I felt considerably shaken up myself, for the wind seemed to be howling a shade louder and the sucking noise of the sea under the old pier’s girdered legs suddenly seemed quite horrible.

  ‘What’s that?’ Ben gasped, and I jumped.

  We were now standing behind a partly caved-in fortune-telling booth whose unpinned roof flapped noisily in the wind, and I couldn’t see what had caught his attention. I looked down at the dead white of the waves beneath me and wondered if he’d seen another hole.

  ‘Over there,’ he said impatiently, pointing to the other side of the pier, and peering intently through the semi-darkness I caught sight of a weather-beaten board bearing the legend MAGIC MIRRORS – COME INTO A NEW WORLD OF FEAR. I noticed that for some reason the sign was much more intact than the others and the paint wasn’t faded. Then I saw the hand resting on the outside of the door behind it. It was gnarled and old and withered. And it moved.

  I let out a piercing scream. The hand was beckoning us in and I whirled round to see what Ben was doing.

  ‘Didn’t you see?’ I hissed.

  ‘See what?’

  ‘The hand.’

  ‘What hand?’ he stuttered and I could see his eyes were cloudy with terror. ‘What hand?’ he repeated loudly.

  ‘Shut up!’

  ‘I can’t see any hand –’

  I looked back; there wasn’t a hand any longer – it had completely disappeared.

  ‘Well, there was one.’

  ‘Sure you aren’t seeing things?’ he accused.

  ‘I don’t know.’ Maybe I was, I thought. Maybe the hand was just a trick of the light.

  ‘What are we going to do now?’ asked Ben, looking round helplessly. He is tall for his age and well built, but none of this seemed to do much for his confidence. I’d never seen him so scared.

  ‘We’ve got to find somewhere to sleep, and the only place that’s got a roof on is the Magic Mirrors,’ I said solidly, and as I spoke I felt the first drop of rain.

  Ben looked at me sideways and I knew what he was thinking. The Hand. I’d thought about that too, but I was really determined not to be scared off. I glanced across at Ben. Could someone be playing tricks? After all, it had been Ben’s challenge – his dare. Supposing it was a set-up, that some of his mates had got here before us and were going to make me look a fool? On the other hand, Ben was a lousy actor. I remembered seeing him in a play at school – he was a right prat. So now he was looking dead scared, I was sure he wasn’t acting.

  ‘Come on,’ I snapped and began to walk over to the Magic Mirrors. Ben followed me in silence and the rain came down harder than ever.

  ‘Wait.’

  ‘What for?’

  ‘There’s someone in there.’ Ben came to a juddering halt beside me.

  ‘I can’t hear anything,’ I said slowly, and it was true – I couldn’t.

  ‘I heard something – someone,’ he said doggedly.

  ‘If this is a set-up,’ I began threateningly, ‘and you’ve got some of your mates in there – I’ll do you.’

  ‘Of course it’s not,’ Ben gasped, and I could see from his wild eyes that it very definitely wasn’t.

  ‘What did you hear?’

  ‘Kind of thumping.’

  ‘Thumping?’

  ‘As if someone’s beating on something.’

  At exactly that moment I heard it too: a sort of dull, leaden sound. ‘I’m going in.’ He grabbed at me but I was too fast and within seconds I was in the darkened interior.

  At first I couldn’t see a thing, and then Ben cannoned into me and I shot forward. Immediately I saw them, dimly reflecting different shadowy versions of me. And Ben. Mirrors – there were dozens of them and they were all distorting. In some we were short and fat, as if we’d both been scrunched up. In others we were incredibly long and tall, as if we’d been stretched. Then there were mirrors that made us round, square, short, oblong, squashed –

  ‘They’re only distorting mirrors,’ I said. ‘Nothing to worry about.’ But even as I said the words I heard the voice, muffled and indistinct, coming from somewhere round the next corner. I froze – and I could feel Ben doing the same thing behind me. What was going on? At first I couldn’t make out what the voice was saying, and then suddenly I could. The words were spaced out and horribly desperate. ‘Help – me – someone – let – me – out – please – someone – let – me – out –’

  ‘Who is it?’ I hissed.

  ‘How should I know?’ Ben’s teeth were literally chattering. I’d never believed that teeth really did, but Ben’s definitely were.

  ‘It’s round the corner. Come on!’

  ‘No. Wait -’ he began, but I had already gone and he obviously felt he had to follow.

  I stopped in front of the last mirror in the musty old building. It was at a slight angle and it didn’t reflect. Instead, the mirror was cloudy, almost as if it was a door. I became aware of the disembodied hand in my own, leading me towards the mistiness of the mirror.

  ‘Don’t leave me,’ wailed Ben, but the icy grip in my palm became iron hard and I was literally pulled off my feet straight into the mirror.

  Once inside, the hand vanished and I was staggering about, alone in the mist. The ground seemed hard, as if it was verv cold, and for a while I couldn’t make anything out at all. Then the clouds of woolly vapour cleared for a moment and I saw that I was standing in the middle of a great desert-like place, except that there were no rocks or distant mountains. Instead there were dozens and dozens of glass domes, and when I looked inside them I could see myself. This time they weren’t mirrors; I could see myself as a baby, as a child, as I was now, as someone who was older, and older, and older. In the far distance I could see a very old woman and I was sure she was me. I slowly glided past them in turn, and as I came to the last dome, for a while the mist hovered around it. Then it parted, and with a terrible, horrible, shock I saw that it showed a coffin. Somehow I knew that it was my own.

  ‘What do you think they are?’ said a voice very close to me and I spun round, hoping that Ben had joined me. At first I couldn’t make out anything, and then when I focused I saw a policeman. His uniform was a bit old-fashioned but otherwise he looked quite normal. I felt a surge of relief and then I noticed the look in his eyes. Suddenly I was even more afraid than I had been before.

  ‘Who are you?’

  ‘I’m PC Rivers.’

  ‘What – what are you doing here?’

  ‘It’s a bit of a long story.’ His voice was trembling as much as Ben’s had. He was staring at the glass domes and again he asked the question: ‘What do you think they are?’

  ‘Sort of domes.’

  ‘No, they’re crystal balls.’

  I stared at him uncomprehendingly and PC Rivers half-smiled, a look of weary patience in his eyes. ‘What do you mean – crystal balls?’

  ‘As in fortune-telling,’ he said.

  ‘You mean – you can really tell the future in them?’

  ‘Haven’t you noticed?’ His smile was bitter now. ‘I’m sorry you got dragged in. She’s been waiting for a very long time, but with the pier being closed for so long, no one came.’

  ‘Who’s she?’ I asked fearfully.

  ‘Madame Orion – the fortune-teller.’

  ‘And – why am I here?’ I spluttered.

  ‘I think she took pity on me,’ said PC Rivers gently. ‘She knew how lonely I was, so she gave me a companion. I’m sorry – I wouldn’t have wanted it this way.’ He paused while I stared at him in horrified bewilderment.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ I whispered. ‘What are you do
ing here?’

  ‘I’m here for ever,’ he said quietly. ‘Trapped in the mirror – and so, I’m afraid, are you.’

  ‘For ever?’ This must be a dream, not reality. I pinched myself hard – and the pinch hurt.

  ‘I’m afraid so,’ he repeated, and I looked into his eyes. They were tragically sad.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ I whispered, and shivered, for the desert-like place was incredibly cold and the glass domes – or crystal balls, or whatever they were – looked as if they had icicles clinging to them.

  ‘I arrested her. I arrested Madame Orion – and she died in prison.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘I got a message at the station one night that there were kids on this pier. It had just been closed. I saw a hand – beckoning me -’

  ‘Just like I did.’

  ‘And the hand grabbed mine – ice cold it was – and pulled me into the mirror. It was her hand. Her revenge.’

  ‘What did you arrest her for?’ I asked.

  ‘She was conning old ladies,’ he replied in his quiet way.

  ‘Old ladies?’ I repeated woodenly. ‘How?’

  ‘She’d look into her crystal ball,’ said PC Rivers slowly, ‘and she’d tell them they were going to die the next day. Of course that put ’em in a right old flap. Then she’d tell ’em that she could alter the course of events – if they paid her – and they wouldn’t die after all.’

  ‘How could she do that?’

  ‘She wouldn’t do anything, because it was a confidence trick in the first place. But she told them she’d have to destroy her crystal ball – which was naturally worth a fortune.’

  ‘And they were fool enough to believe her?’ I asked, astounded.

  ‘Well –’ he replied, ‘as they were fool enough to consult her in the first place –’

  ‘How did you find her out?’

  ‘One of the old ladies wasn’t quite such a fool and came to see us. I hid in the back of the tent – and bob’s your uncle.’

  It was a funny phrase that I hadn’t heard before; it sounded as old-fashioned as PC Rivers’s uniform.

  ‘The only problem was,’ I said slowly, ‘that she was magic after all.’

  ‘I’m not sure about when she was alive,’ said PC Rivers slowly, ‘but she certainly was when she was dead.’

  ‘When did all this happen?’ I asked.

  ‘1956 – that was when the pier closed for the last time. What’s the date now?’ he asked slowly.

  ‘1992.’

  ‘Oh –’ He gave a little gasp. ‘You sure of that?’

  There followed a long, long silence.

  ‘Anyway, we’ve got to do something,’ I said eventually.

  ‘I’ve already tried pleading with her.’

  ‘You mean she’s around?’

  ‘Oh yes, the crystals show her life as well as mine and yours.’

  I didn’t much like the idea of that; I could only too readily remember the sight of my own coffin.

  ‘I’ve been to her – even as a young girl – and pleaded for my release, but she’s not having any of it – not her. She just laughs and says I’ve got to stay. But maybe you – after all, you’re young – and I don’t really need a companion.’

  I shuddered. Suppose I had to stay here for ever? It would be awful. Just PC Rivers and me until the end of the world – and beyond.

  ‘How do I get to see her?’

  ‘Oh, you just think of her – and she’ll appear in the crystal balls.’

  The first ball came to life with the sound of a baby crying, and as I wandered up and down at least twenty of the domes I saw Madame Orion as a baby, as a little child, as a young girl and so on and so on, until I came to the one that showed her in the old fortune-telling booth that Ben and I had passed, what now seemed a lifetime ago.

  ‘Madame Orion,’ I called, but she barely glanced up. She was reading the palm of an old lady and I wondered if she was about to ask her for money. Dimly I heard her voice from the pier that was now such a faraway place.

  ‘Yes. Yes. I’m afraid you’ll die tomorrow.’

  ‘Die?’ The old lady was horrified. ‘Are you sure? Isn’t there anything that can be done, Madame Orion?’

  ‘Well-’

  ‘Please. Please you must.’ She was very agitated now.

  ‘It could be very expensive,’ said Madame Orion carefully.

  ‘I don’t care. I can pay – I’ll pay anything.’

  ‘Well-’

  The image faded and flickered. Clients came and went and Madame Orion’s smile broadened. Then, at last, she was alone.

  ‘Madame Orion,’ I called desperately. ‘Please listen. Please.’

  She glanced up and her grin was wolfish. ‘Do I hear voices in my head? Voices from the future?’

  ‘Only one voice. You trapped me,’ I said. ‘In a place you created. Along with PC Rivers.’

  But Madame Orion simply cackled with glee. ‘I can’t see into the future, whoever you are. I never could.’ And she cackled again as she opened a drawer and began to count a vast number of banknotes.

  ‘Try her later,’ said PC Rivers. ‘Just before she died.’

  I ran up to the last crystal ball but one and cried out her name. Gradually the mists cleared and I saw Madame Orion sitting in a cell, hacking away with a wracking cough. I banged on the side of the crystal and she held her head as if it was hurting very badly. I banged again and again, the desperation and fear mounting in me, driving me to fever pitch. I glanced around me and all I could see were the crystals and PC Rivers standing with his hands behind his back. The rest was empty space. I couldn’t stay here – not for ever – and I banged again and again.

  Eventually she looked up, still holding her head.

  ‘What is it? What voice is in me?’

  ‘It’s Debbie.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Debbie Hardcastle. I’m locked in behind the mirror with PC Rivers.’

  ‘Him? I cursed him.’

  ‘Let me out!’

  ‘I don’t know who you are,’ she muttered, ‘but I do know I must have the powers I never thought I had. I always saw myself as a trickster.’

  ‘You were!’ I yelled.

  ‘But I hated that policeman so much that I thought and thought and thought, and do you know what happened?’

  ‘Yes, I know where he went, and I’m there too.’

  ‘Are you young?’

  ‘I’m ten!’

  ‘That’s very sad, my dear,’ she said with a dreadful sugary sweetness.

  ‘Sad?’

  ‘Yes. You see, if you’re with PC Rivers, you must be dead.’

  ‘Dead?’ I was totally aghast.

  ‘Oh yes. They never found him, so he is presumed dead. I willed him there. So you must be dead – so sad, so young. But you must go, little spirit. I haven’t got time for you – or him.’ She began to choke again. ‘You see, I’m about to die myself. I feel it in my bones.’ She laughed. ‘I kept thinking of mirrors, you see, and how wonderful it would be if they made people disappear -if people I didn’t like just walked into them. You can do a lot with will-power you know, little spirit.’ She cackled and coughed again, so I pounded on the crystal, seeing that the harder I did it, the more it made her head hurt.

  ‘Stop!’

  ‘You don’t know me. Your ghost put me in here.’

  ‘Then you’ll have to ask her,’ she wheezed. ‘I’m not dead yet.’

  ‘Where is she?’ I yelled, pounding again.

  ‘She’s along there,’ said PC Rivers’s voice behind me. ‘Look in the next crystal.’

  I looked up desperately and saw the last crystal, which seemed to be slightly larger than the others. Hurriedly I ran over to it and peered inside. At first it was very cloudy and then the vapour-like mist cleared and I could see a graveyard and in it an unmarked grave. There was no headstone, no cross – not even a little notice with a name on it. Instead there was an overgrown hump in the ground that was
covered in weeds and thistles. I watched the little hump in the ground with great sadness, then I saw something emerging from the weeds. At first it looked like another piece of drifting mist, then it gradually turned itself into a hand – the hand of Madame Orion. It pointed at me and wagged a finger menacingly.

  ‘Why?’ I asked PC Rivers. He shrugged and the finger pointed again – this time at him. When I looked back at him I was very surprised, for he looked not only uncomfortable but also extremely nervous. Then it came to me. There was something I didn’t know.

  ‘What is it?’ I asked.

  ‘What’s what?’ he replied rather crossly.

  ‘Why’s that finger pointing at you – wagging at you?’

  ‘I don’t know. I suppose she’s just crowing over me.’

  ‘There’s something else, isn’t there?’ I said firmly.

  For a moment I didn’t think PC Rivers was going to reply, but after a very long pause he said reluctantly, ‘All right then.’

  ‘All right what?’

  ‘She escaped.’

  ‘You mean she didn’t die in prison?’

  ‘Not in prison she didn’t. Madame Orion jumped out of the police van that was taking her to Holloway.’

  ‘And she got away?’

  ‘For a while. Then we found her – a few days later. The pier had just been closed and she was hiding out in the hall of mirrors.’

  ‘So you got her again.’

  ‘No – no, we didn’t.’ He turned back to the crystal ball. ‘Come on, you might as well look. The crystal would have shown you eventually.’

  Again the mists parted and I saw the hall of distorting mirrors that Ben and I had been lured into what seemed like years ago. Crouched in a corner was the pathetic figure of Madame Orion. She was shivering violently. Then there was a muffled banging and PC Rivers, looking exactly as he did now, rushed in. She rose to her feet and he pursued her round the distorting mirrors, their bodies changing shape grotesquely as she tried so desperately to get away from him. Then Madame Orion stumbled and fell against one of the largest mirrors, which cracked from side to side. As it did so, a great shard of glass fell on to Madame Orion’s hand. I turned away, unable to watch any more, and when I eventually summoned up the courage to turn back to the crystal, I saw Madame Orion standing on the railings of the pier. She was pleading and PC Rivers was shaking his head, and where her hand had been was – well, I don’t want to go into that now. Dimly I heard their voices.