A Life Beyond by Mark Church (ebook reader web TXT) 📕

or something..' he laughed as Lillie emerged from the bushes ahead of them looking rather confused as she shouted to the boys who were ready to move on again,

'Errrm guys I think we might be a bit lost…'

'What makes you say that Lillie, we can't be that far from where we need to be' Harvey shouted back as he made his way towards where Lillie was standing,

'Well….' Lillie replied 'I'm sure this hasn't always been in the woods otherwise we would've seen it!!'.

With that the boy's made their way through the bushes ahead of them, pushing back branches and making their way through the gap that Lillie had made in her search for an exit.

As they got to a clearing within the woods they were greeted with the most amazing sight causing Harvey, looking dumbfounded by what he was seeing, to pipe up,

'This definitely wasn't here before!!...Are we missing something?'

Just in front of the gang was the most stunning blue river which led down to a brook within the woods, just the other side of that was a small wooden cottage which was bathed in the most spectacular glow, the woods seemingly lighting the way for them to go with each step they took, as they stopped by the river's edge they stooped down and were met with the clearest water they had ever seen,

'Well this is weird isn't it!!' Harvey said as he turned to Daniel who was crouched down at the water's edge looking lost in his own thoughts,

'This surely must be a dream, this isn't our woods is it?' Daniel continued questioning his own thoughts, Lillie then turned to her brother and pinched his arm hard,

'OWWW, what did you do that for?' Daniel yelped as he rubbed his arm vigorously,

'Did that hurt then?, because if it did then this is all real!!' Said Lillie as she sniggered at her brother being in pain from the pinch she had given him before attempting to be nice,

'I could have slapped you instead but I thought against that as mum would freak if you had a red mark across your face'

'Oh thanks a lot sis!!!' Daniel muttered as he stood up and stared at the cottage in front of them,

'Wonder if anyone actually lives there, I mean look at it, it's all old and rickety' remarked Harvey as he joined his friend by the side of the river, both looking in awe at what they were seeing in front of them, wondering if they should get closer to it to investigate the new surroundings they found themselves in.

Lillie being the more confident one had already made her way over to the cottage and was exploring the outside of it, looking for any clue as to where they were,

'Lillie….Lillie' Whispered Daniel as he scouted the area around the cottage in case anyone came back,

'Be careful, you don't want to get caught do you?, Someone might be on their way back or something' Daniel carried on as his sister became more inquisitive and started trying to open the door to see if she could get inside, but it was bolted shut from the inside by the feel of it.

'Harv...see if you can see anything round the other side, I want to find out what the heck is going on' Daniel ordered his friend to scout around the other side of the cottage to look for any signs of anyone living there, so off he trudged around the back of the cottage still muttering that he was hungry and how he needed to get home for tea but it seemed home was a long way away now.

Daniel head turned as he heard what sounded like twigs snapping just ahead of the cottage, he gestured for Lillie to be quiet as they slowly crept off away from the cottage to hide behind a collection of logs which were stacked up neatly by the water's edge,

Suddenly Harvey came charging round the corner yelling,

'Someone's coming, hide quickly!!' just as he said that he ran towards where Lillie and Daniel were hiding and slipped on the grass just by the logs which sent him sliding off into the river with a ‘splash’,

'Harvey!!!!...Keep it down will you!!' Lillie angrily said as Harvey dragged himself out of the river up alongside Daniel and they all sat quietly as a figure made its way through the undergrowth, It seemed the person was wearing a long cloak of some kind, it wasn't a very tall figure but seemed to be looking strong due to what it was carrying in its arms, the figure kept whistling as it made its way to the door, opening it slightly throwing it's ‘catch’ inside the door before stopping in its tracks, head turning to the side slightly and in a soft voice the figure called out,

'I know you're there...you may as well come out...I can see you behind the logs you know'.

All three of them looked at each other hoping that the person wasn't talking about them and by some miracle another three people would stand up and come out of hiding but there was no chance of that.

'Sounds like an old woman!! What do we do?' asked a rather scared Harvey as he thought about making a run for it,

'I vote for staying here, I’m sure she will get bored and walk off soon' replied Daniel as they sat tight against the logs, but the woman stayed silently still, waiting patiently for something to happen in front of her cottage

The woman turned fully round but her face was covered by the hood of her cloak, the clothes she were wearing were fairly oversized and dragged across the floor as she walked forward slowly onto the path in front of her, they were covered in the dust of the forest floor and the twigs from the trees as the cottage was fairly well hidden from sight which meant she had to do a lot of track walking to get home,

Lillie, who had been quiet this whole time, decided she would be the one who would go out. As she went to move Daniel grabbed her arm as if to stop her going but in doing this he fell back into Harvey which pushed him out from behind the logs.

'Woah…..Well done you two' Harvey scolded them both as he lay on the floor beside the logs now, feeling a pair of eyes burning into him, he turned his head to face the woman in front of him as she replied,

'Stand up boy, I presume you are a boy...your hair is very...ladylike!!, and tell me who you are and why you're here. You're trespassing on my land..',

'Oh just thanks for that!!!’ Harvey said ‘Errrm. Well you see….my name is Harvey Jones and I'm from a town called Lullington Mulch, which I think is that way' He said pointing off into the distance far into the woods.

'And what are you doing here in MY part of the forest?, I don't like trespassers you see, always hunting for things that have value to me, that's why I'm hidden far into the trees', the woman replied in a soft but authoritative tone,

'And who else is in your party?, I see two more sets of tracks coming this way, and I'm sure you don't have six legs hidden in those small garments you are wearing' the woman stared past Harvey as she spoke, waiting for Lillie and Daniel to appear.

Lillie then stood up as straight as an arrow and introduced herself seeing as she felt this woman was no threat to them,

'I'm Lillie Carter, very nice to meet you, sorry for stumbling onto your land but we seem to be lost and we are just looking to pass through from wherever it is we are!!'

'You look rather familiar to me….Hmmm…..Your face looks like someone I have seen somewhere before , but from where!!' the woman seemed to be racking her brain to search for the answer but stopped as Daniel rose up too and stepped out into the open.

The woman gasped as she set eyes on Daniel for the first time seemingly dumbstruck by what she was seeing,

'Can it be?….no surely not….if it is, why is he here??,' the woman said silently before carrying on asking the question she felt she needed to ask, 'And what is your name young boy?. If you are who I think you are then please accept my apologies for being so abrupt'

'D..Daniel Carter..' He replied nervously as the woman moved closer to where he was standing and looked him up and down muttering to herself as she examined him,

'Can I see you left arm please Daniel??'

Daniel thought this was a bit strange but seeing as he was too scared to say no he held it out anyway, the woman slid his sleeve up and upon seeing his birthmark on his forearm her eyes widened and she muttered something about him having ‘The mark’.

Harvey looked confused as the woman fell silent for a second,

'What's she doing?, Bit weird if you ask me' He whispered to Lillie who was standing there wondering why his brother was getting special attention from this old woman,

'Errrm hello….can you tell me why you are looking at my brother like that please, it's kind of strange' Lillie piped up as the woman turned to her and replied,

'Sister!!! Why yes, of course I thought you both looked familiar, tell me please is this a relation of yours??', With that she pulled out a picture from beneath her robes and showed it to them both, the picture was of a woman all dressed up in what looked like a long flowing cape adorned with a familiar crest which the children had seen before somewhere, and behind her was the image of a man who looked like the one Daniel had seen in his dreams.

'That looks like the one on my diary!!!' Daniel exclaimed as he grabbed the grainy photograph from the clutches of the old woman,

'More to the point that looks like mum!!!' Lillie blurted out as she stared long and hard at it,

'Why is our mum in this picture?, Who are you and where are we??' Daniel had decided that they needed answers considering they were in a place where they didn't know and with a woman who seemed to know who they were,

'If the prophecy is correct then this is where it starts...You have come home!!!' the woman seemed excited by what she was thinking as she turned towards her cottage, beckoning the children to follow,

'Follow me and I will do my best to explain'.

Harvey grabbed Daniel's arm before he could move, warning him about following her, 'What if she's some scary witch woman who feeds on young children!!, I don't want to go in there, who knows what she's going to do to us!!'

'Shut up Harv...Look she's got a photo of mum in her hand, the cape she is wearing has the same emblem that my diary has and she seems to know who we are and where we are!!' Trying to reassure Harvey that it was all going to be ok, Daniel took his hand away and smiled at his nervous looking friend as he carried on talking to him,

'Trust me mate, I have a good feeling about this',

Lillie had already walked off towards the cottage as the old lady disappeared inside, she stopped at the entrance and waited for her brother to follow,

'If you're that worried why not wait outside then' said Daniel trying to calm his friend's nervousness down.

'Out here??...With who knows what watching me...no fear!!, I'm safer in there with the crazy old woman!!' Harvey pushed ahead of Daniel and they all stepped inside the cottage as Lillie shut the door behind them.

'Urrgh...what's that smell' Harvey commented as the scent of something being cooked wafted its way through the cottage as the children walked carefully through into a larger room at the back of the wooden cottage,

'Smells like old socks!!..That’s nasty, wish I'd of stayed outside now!!'