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

doing as he battled to free himself, then the figure whispered quietly while waving its bony hand in Harvey's direction.

'Te Libero…', The figure then slowly disappeared out of sight back into the blackness of the bush.

And with that the lock sprung open with Harvey still holding the key in it, unaware that it wasn't actually him that had undone it, he swung the door open but quickly grabbed it before it banged against the side of the cage,

'I'm free!!!' he said happily before realising he might still be heard, then turned his head to scout the surrounding area to see if anyone had heard him, but nothing could be heard now even the talking he had heard in the distance had stopped.

Slowly and ever so quietly Harvey crawled out of the cage door spotting what looked like a path between the trees in front of him now and leading out of wherever it was he was in, he stood still for a few seconds until he felt it was safe to make a dash for it, took one last look around then he set off at such a pace into the undergrowth and down the makeshift path hoping that it might lead somewhere safer than where he had ended up.

Back at the area where Harvey had been held the hooded figure suddenly appeared from the back of the bushes cackling away to

itself, it's hood hiding whatever evil face lurked underneath, standing there just staring as he could see in the distance Harvey running away,

'Ahhhh excellent…' The figure clasped its hands together, rubbing them in such a way as if it was pleased,

'The plan has been put into place….the spells have started...soon we will know everything we need to know about their whereabouts...Master will be so pleased' The hooded figure seemingly floated off past the bushes and into the distance still cackling to itself as it disappeared out of sight.

'HARVEY…..WHERE ARE YOU?' came the cry from Daniel as he stood at the edge of what looked like a thick part of the forest, he could hear what sounded like whispers coming from all around him but none of them sounded like Harvey's voice,

'Turn back….' said one whisper

'Too much danger….' another one floated around Daniel's head and seemed to float away,

'Where are we?' Daniel asked himself, looking for any sign of where Harvey had disappeared to, just as he went to move off Lillie came stumbling through the trees behind him, her clothes ripped slightly and her hair all over the place,

'Have you found him sis..?' asked Daniel hopefully,

'No sign of him Dan...I've been all over these woods and can't see any trace of him now' Lillie puffed as she tried to catch her breath,

'But I have been hearing lots of what sounds like people whispering to me..' she continued

'Me too Lillie. The whispers seemed to be warning me about this place' Daniel's shoulders seemed to drop at the thought that something bad had happened to his friend.

Lillie tried her best to comfort her brother who she could see was getting slightly upset, she stood next to a group of bushes with a tree beside them which she had to rest against after her exhausting search earlier,

'Don't worry Dan I'm sure Harvey will turn u…..' her sentence hadn't finished when all of a sudden something came crashing through the bushes right next to she was standing taking her completely by surprise, the person collapsed in a heap on the floor gasping for air.

'Harvey!!!' shouted Daniel as he realised his best friend had just landed right by his feet huffing and puffing away, Harvey just lay there looking up at the sky for a few seconds then suddenly sprang to his feet still panting and trying to speak,

'Huuu. Huuu...have to go...Huuu...being chased….' he managed to get a few words out before struggling for air again,

'Eh?, Chased?, by who Harv?, who’s after you and where have you been?' Daniel quizzed his friend hoping he could tell them what was going on,

'The woods….cage...Huuu Huuu...people...got to go...now!!!' Harvey frantically waved his arms as he knew he was struggling for air so Lillie decided that the best option was to get out of there,

'Let's do as he says then Dan, we will have to help him though, you get under one arm and I'll get under the other one' and with that they both hoisted Harvey up off the floor and made their way back along the trail they had just came from until the eventually came to a path that split off in two different directions,

'Oh great...which path is it sis?' Daniel asked as if Lillie would know where to go,

'I don't know!!, weren't you paying attention to where we had come from when we came through here earlier?' she replied angrily

'Jeez I was only asking Lillie!!, Ok then we’ll go this way' Daniel pointed to the path that went off to the left and they made their way along it, pushing branches and twigs out of the way as they battled their way along it,. Hoping that this was the right path.

The path they had chosen seemed different to the one they were on before, all the while they could hear whispers making their way through the woods, swirling around them like wind,

'So close…..be wary...' came on whisper which blew straight through

Daniel's ears and off into nothingness just as the others had done before,

'Follow...follow' came another which swirled between the group then vanished.

Harvey was still feeling the effects of whatever it was that had happened to him earlier but he needed to stop for a sit down.

'Stop...Please guys...I'm shattered' He begged with them as they came into a clearing some way up the path, they helped Harvey sit down on a fallen log before feeling the need to question him.

'Did anyone else hear that?...sounded like someone whispering to me!!' Harvey looked at Daniel and Lillie who were both standing there, arms folded looking straight at him,

'Wh..What are you guys staring at??' he answered them quizzically as if nothing had happened,

'Never mind that Harv, we want to know what happened to you, you were babbling about a cage or something.' Daniel needed to know what had gone on earlier, Lillie on the other hand just knew something bad was happening,

'More to the point, what happened to you after the explosion in the tunnels, I could hear your girly screeching then the next thing I know some kind of bomb had gone off and we were nearly buried back there',

'I don't remember any of that at all!!, I only remember being in a cage in the woods, don't know how I got there or anything!!' Harvey racking his brains to try and answer Lillies question but whoever it was who held him captive had wiped his memory, for a reason.

'So you're telling me we were nearly buried alive in the tunnels and I seemed to have been taken by someone for them to do heaven knows what to me!, Urrgh I feel so nasty!!' Harvey's face dropped at the thought of someone possibly hurting him while he was in the cage in the woods,

'Let's hope they knocked some sense into you then Harvey!!' laughed Lillie as knew it would annoy him.

'Leave him alone sis!!' barked Daniel as he sat next to his friend now, 'Any way, what is it we are doing here?, I'm having a hard time remembering anything, my brain is still spinning' Harvey sat with his head in his hands trying his best to piece together the events of the day,

'Don't you have to have a brain for it to be able to spin!!' laughed Lillie again and watched as Harvey became more annoyed by her comments, a glint of rage burning in his eyes as for a split second he wanted to have a go at Lillie, he felt the urge to try and stand up to confront her but something was stopping him, a small voice whispering inside his mind

'Soon….' came the sound from deep inside Harvey's head, he didn't flinch when he heard it as if dismissing it completely from his thoughts,

'Once again...shut up sis!!' Daniel was now getting fed up with his sister constantly going on at Harvey,

'You can see he's still not with it properly, so just leave him alone OK!!!' Daniel's words were filled with a tinge of anger towards his sister, he was getting more and more fed up with every passing second,

'Blimey Daniel...don't go over the top, I'm only messing around!!' the blunt reply from Lillie caused them all to stop speaking to one another.

Daniel was focussing on making sure Harvey was ok now, sitting next to him on the log asking him any question to try and jog his memory, Lillie had decided to go off for a wander to clear her head muttering to herself as she strode through the woods, disappearing from sight.

'Wonder where she's gone' Harvey asked Daniel as they had both watched her walk off without even bothering to call her back, knowing there was something sinister out in the woods,

'Dunno Harv...and at the minute I don't really care, she's always on your case and I've had enough, so as far as I'm concerned she can get herself lost!!' Daniel's answer threw Harvey aback slightly as he hadn't really hear him talk about his sister with such anger in his voice.

'Don't get too upset with her Dan, if we are going to get out of here we all need to stay together. Three heads are better than one I'd say' Harvey smiled as he looked straight at his friend who seemed to have a slightly worried look on his face now, knowing his sister was out there somewhere without him by her side.

'I just hope we find what we are looking for Harv, I mean, as well as hopefully finding my father, I want to find Bucksy….It's strange though as I haven't really thought about him that much lately. It's as if I'm meant to forget about him but I can't.' Daniel was now sitting bolt upright with all these thoughts running through his head now like someone had turned a tap on inside his mind, pictures of people he had forgotten about, people he had never met and images of places he had never seen before.

'It's odd…' He continued, 'since we've been here I've started to feel like this place is growing on me...I mean like I'm starting to feel part of this place',

'Come to mention it Dan, I've been having odd feelings lately too, it's like the longer we are here the more we feel accepted by the land, it's hard to explain but that's the only way I can put it' Harvey knew exactly how Daniel felt and they both felt a sense of safety for the first time. Just as Daniel was about to speak Lillie came crashing back through the woods to where they were sitting.

'You both need to come see this!!!' She smiled excitedly, barely able to contain her excitement,

'What is it now sis...I'm not really interested by whatever it is you've found now!!' Daniel dismissed his sister but she knew he would want to see what it was that she had seen.

'No trust me you'll really want to come see this, I think I might have found what we are supposed to be looking for!!' Lillie pulled Daniel to his feet tugging at his arms, wanting him to follow her.

'You've seen our father?, Bucksy?' Daniel questioned Lillie constantly knowing it was something important enough for her to want to come back to find them,

'Not quite but I think it's the next best thing Daniel!!, Come on we must hurry, I promise it will be worth it' Lillie helped Harvey to his feet so it must of been rather important for her to want him to see this too.

'Can't you just tell us please, I'm fed up of walking now, my feet are killing me..I'm hungry...I smell..' Harvey moaned as he was pulled along through