Well its that time of the week again!!I think I have made you wait a little bit longer this time , but here it is my new chapter for the book. Don't forget to leave a comment either here or on my FB page or on twitter, or on the top of a lovely chocolate cake ;) And tell all of your friends to come along and have a read too, its free. And lets face it you don't get much for free nowadays. 

Till next time

Take care 

lots of love

marie xx

Chapter Three

Tom looked across at his wife as she lay sleeping in the early morning light, her eyelashes rested on her face softly and her cheeks were slightly flushed. Gently brushing back a strand of her hair he smiled god she was beautiful.

Last night he had made it to the restaurant with enough time to not be too much of an embarrassment to her but he had spent until the early hours making it up to her in the way they knew best. There lovemaking had been soft and tender as always but there had been an unspoken need from her that he tried to fulfil. An urgency in her that he had not felt for many months.

Slipping from the bed Tom walked across the familiar bedroom without switching the light on and quietly closed the bathroom door behind him. Looking in the mirror he considered his appearance for a minute, for his age he was looking good. A slight shadow of a beard across his cheeks and a few grey hairs littered his brown hair but his eyes were still bright even if they were now surrounded with fine aging lines that gave his face a friendly, lived in feel. Stepping into the shower he was finished and back in front of the mirror just as Lara walked into the bathroom, her hair was tousled and she was wrapped in Tom’s dressing gown. She greeted her husband warmly admiring his naked form, fresh from the shower.

“Hey honey, checking to see if you are still gorgeous?” she laughed as he turned to face her. “You don’t need too, you will always be perfection to me” kissing him tenderly she walked back through into the darkened bedroom “even if you can’t ever get anywhere on time” he heard her laughing as she left there room and went to wake the children.

She was right, he had always been one of those guys who left everything till the last minute, trying to change over the years had just resulted in him getting frustrated so he had learned to accept it, luckily so had Lara. Mostly.

After dressing for the day, Tom went downstairs and entered the family kitchen that was too loud, too untidy and definitely a welcome distraction to a nagging thought Tom had in his mind since waking. Last night’s events on the motorway had been playing over and over since he had awoken and he couldn’t forget the look on the policeman’s face. Grabbing toast from a piled high plate he walked through into the living room and turned on the TV. Throwing open the curtains, he looked down on to the valley that stretched away from his home. It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day.

The TV had began to churn out the day’s news and Tom sat down in front of the screen, the toast in his hand forgotten as he looked at the report that declared BREAKING NEWS in the yellow banner across the bottom.

The woman on the screen was the usual anchor for the morning but she had a puzzled look across her face as she read the news.

“.. And if you have just joined us here on news channel7 we have been receiving reports in all morning of strange incidents across the capital. These incidents have not been confirmed as connected but according to a police source they are related. The events seem to have started to the south of the city but reports are spreading along with the incidents. It would seem some kind of attack is under way that causes people to hallucinate and attack people and in some cases themselves violently. Anti terrorism police have said that there is no indication at this time that this is an organised terrorist attack and is urging people to remain calm.

Earlier professor Kendal Trevallis from The University of Sheffield spoke of the phenomenon of mass hysteria  ....” the screen flicked to an elderly man who began to speak animatedly.

Tom felt Lara sit next to him and turned to take the steaming cup of coffee from her

“What’s happening?” her face looked worried and she pulled his dressing gown around her as if cold

“Reports of attacks across the city, they’re not being too specific but I wonder if this was what happened last night on the motorway? That policeman saw something that scared him, whatever it was he didn’t want anyone else to see it.” He sipped at the hot aromatic coffee and continued to stare at the screen in front of him. Lara sat with him for a few minutes and then returned to the kitchen and the children who screamed in delight at something. The professor was finished talking and the female anchor began to speak again, Tom tuned out the sound of his children, his concentration drawn to the television

“... Now we can return to our presenter Fran who is at the scene of one of the attacks. Hello Fran what can you tell us?” the screen split again and another woman appeared, she was stood in front of police tape on a normal residential street. A lone police officer stood guard outside of a house; his face was stern and the street was empty of anyone else.

“Hello yes this is the location of one of the incidents that occurred this morning and to join me I have David who is a local resident and saw what happened. David what did you see?” The microphone was stuck into the face of a pale looking teenager who began to speak, his voice shaking

“I was just going up the pool club to meet my mates when I saw this man walking backwards out of this house, he was staring up the drive but I couldn’t see anything. He was quiet at first but then he starting shouting stay away from me! Get away from me! like all crazy like. He ran up the road a little bit but then he fell, that’s when he began banging his own head against the floor! I ain’t ever seen anything like that before he was just screaming the whole time. You’re dead! You’re dead! Then the cops turned up and we were told to move away, seriously that was some crazy shit.” The screen was filled with the presenter at the scene and she began to speak again

“Police have confirmed that a 53 year old man was removed from the property and taken to Greenbridge emergency hospital but was pronounced dead there not long after, enquiries are still continuing and we are expecting a police conference at eleven o’clock this morning. Back to the studio” Tom couldn’t believe what he was hearing, why on earth would someone kill there selves and in such a violent and strange way?

The telephone rang and he heard Lara pick up the phone, Tom continued to stare at the news as they reported other cases sweeping the city. It was like the whole place was going mad, but why? What would make people behave like that? Tom felt a sense of dread as Lara came into the room.

“Tom it’s your mum on the phone, she sounds really strange, I think you should come and talk to her” Lara’s face was white as she held out the phone to him.

“Tom, she says your dad is back from the dead and is sitting in his chair”

Tom looked down at the phone as he listened to the news continuing to break on the television across the living room.

“Mum...” he said into the phone...

But all Tom could hear in the distance was the sound of the TV, tuned to the soaps that his mum loved.

Here it is!! Chapter two of my book, adult themes so be careful if you have younger audiences about, hope you enjoy, please comment either on the blog or on my Facebook wall :) ~marie

Chapter two

Flicking the ash into the waste paper bin Manuel gazed at the newspaper folded on his knees. Damn it didn’t seem fair that one woman could have tits like that and a face to match. She was plastered all over page three and he could look at her all day for sure. Kelsey sure was a pretty name too.

Manuel sighed; she wasn’t anything like Maria José his wife of fifteen years. Sure she had been exotic when he had married her. But three babies later and she was looking more and more like her mother every damn day. That thought alone made him volunteer to do any overtime he could. That’s why he was here now. But he wasn’t scared of no night shift.

The six screens that moved between the different levels in the shopping centre flicked over in a timed manner. They showed the greyscale view of a place now devoid of people, the shop lights were dimmed and the halls were silent. Manual glanced up now and again as the screens changed but nothing seemed out of place. Turning the page reluctantly from Kelsey he focused his attention on the football scores.

Real Madrid has won the last six matches and Manuel scanned his eyes across the rather badly written report of the match, his thoughts wandering back to Kelsey on page three.

Above the lights began to flicker slightly and Manuel looked up, his thick rubber torch hung from his belt and he instinctively rested one hand on it as the lights continued to pulse.

“Don’t be having no power cut” he muttered and the lights seemed to respond, dimming once more before they burned brightly again.

Manuel stared at the screens, they flickered from scene to scene the same picture repeated across the complex. All was quiet. It was time to make another coffee. Leaving the screens behind he made his way to the small staff room making his coffee extra strong in the cleanest cup he could find. Rooting around in the dirty cupboards he found a half eaten packet of biscuits, they smelled alright, so he took them too.

Leaving the kitchen area he made his way back to the security room. Coming from somewhere in the darkness at the bottom of the hall Manuel heard the faint whisper of a voice carry along the dim corridor. Every hair stood up on his neck as his pace quickened the hot coffee splashing on his uniform. Closing the door firmly he slid the lock across.

Shit man he thought sitting down on the seat. His hand shook as he placed the coffee on the desk. The other security guys had told him that there were spirits in the building but he had laughed along with them, in the cold light of day, everything seemed funny, but that sound seemed to trace a finger straight to his heart.

Closing his tired eyes and rubbing his forehead Manuel looked up at the screens; all were completely black except one. He sat staring at the screen puzzled at why they were all off, he had not been trained in what to do if this happened, but knowing his supervisor he would not welcome a 3am phone call. Standing up Manuel began to hit the bank of screens, hoping they would flicker to life but they remained black, completely devoid of anything except the frowning face of Manuel that reflected back at him.

The middle screen showed the fountain inside the food plaza, it seemed to have more static on than normal, as if it was snowing. Manuel peered closer at the image; sure he could see something moving amongst the snow and bad light.

Rubbing his eyes he took a large gulp of the coffee feeling the burning as it entered his throat. He hoped the caffeine burst would sharpen his eyesight. Returning to look at the screen Manuel knew he was seeing something.

His eyes widened as the young girl stepped from beneath the water that flowed endlessly in the fountain. Her eyes were as black as coal and they seemed to hold Manuals gaze. Every part of him longed to pull away but he was frozen, watching the girl as she stepped over the lip of the fountain and began to walk float across towards the camera as if she knew that Manuel was gripped with fear and unable to break away from her gaze.

As she nearly reached the camera the snow seemed to clear and Manuel began to shake in fear, a terror that seemed to cause every muscle to move in his body.

The girl was his lucita, his sweet baby daughter who had died in his arms three years ago. She had locked eyes with him as she had left them all to be with Jesus and the holy mother. She was dead! This couldn't be real.

Manuel felt the sick rise in his throat as he continued to watch his daughter on the screen.

He had to be dreaming but he couldn't move to pinch himself, to wake himself up.

Lucita continued to walk towards the camera until her face filled the screen. With a steady slowness she began to open her mouth into a scream that filled every room in the shopping centre. So loud was the howling scream of despair that it made the walls shake, the floor tremble and the glass break in every window. The mouth continued to scream until it covered the screen and then it flicked off joining the others that reflected back Manuels white face, the tears streaming down his cheeks.

As he fell to the floor he screamed out into the empty room until his throat could utter not one more sound. His nails piercing the palms of his hands until blood ran on to the carpet beneath him.

When the police found him, he was still laid on the floor all colour drained from his face, babbling the same word over and over again

“El fantasma, el fantasma, el fantasma”

So here we have it, the first chapter in my book, hope you like it and I will  post some more next week ~marie

Shadows of a ghost

Lara felt the tiredness in every part of her body. She had been awake for forty eight hours and she felt it. Every muscle was screaming at her to sleep. But the desire, the overwhelming urge to keep moving kept one foot stepping after the next. Had it only been forty eight hours?  So little time, and yet so much had changed, and none of it for the best. Watching the person you had pledged to love the rest of your life die in front of your eyes had changed everything for Lara. And the pain that her body was feeling, well that was nothing to the gaping ache that sat like a stone in her chest.

In the distance she could hear a storm; the rolling of the thunder seemed to echo against the buildings that framed the street. The flashes of lightning were far enough away that they provided only a backdrop to the night. The streets were still dark and deserted. Lara took solace in the shadows; they hid her face from prying eyes. Here in the nights shroud she could let her tears fall, without wiping them away.

Tom, how could she describe a man in a few words, sure he was kind and loving, attentive, funny and sexy as hell. But he was more than those labels. He was a flesh and blood human, a heart stronger than steel. He was a smile that lit a room, two arms that offered a harbour when tears fell. He believed in the good, in a higher beauty and he loved like his life depended on it. And in the end it was love that all consuming beat of two souls coming together that led to his death. And now the road is Lara's companion, leading her, pulling her forward to find that what she has lost.

.....her home.

Chapter One.

Tom was going to be late, he was always late. Checking his watch for the twentieth time he looked at the line of cars in front of his. They stretched for miles up the motorway that now resembled a car park.

“Dammit!” Lara’s words echoed around his head as he sat in the silence of the car.

Remember to leave the office early or you will catch the traffic going into the yesteryear music festival!

Once again he should have listened to her but he never did, even though he knew she was always right. A smile played on his lips as he thought how she would love to hear him say she was right, not that he ever would. Playing the game was what kept their marriage so vibrant. He knew he was forever pushing his luck, so did she, but they never mentioned it.

Drumming his fingers against the steering wheel he pressed and opened the window a fraction, the cool air was a relief against the warmth of the car and Tom felt himself relaxing. Looking to his left he saw a young couple in a small red car. Both of them were staring straight ahead, not speaking nor reacting to the situation that presented to them. A young child sat in the back of the car, drawing shapes in the condensation that collected on the window. He smiled and the small child waved before sticking out its tongue returning to the shadow of the cars interior.

Tom thoughts turned to his Shelby, which wasn’t that hard to do, he thought of her most days. She loved sitting by the side of him when he was in the car. Her mouth never still nor quiet as she questioned everything she saw, or heard or thought of. With that mass of tight ginger curls she bobbed up and down with excitement, at everything. The only time she was ever still was when she was seriously regarding you with her vivid green eyes. At such a young age she seemed to sense when someone was telling a lie. Questioning them until she was satisfied that she had received the whole truth. Lara would laugh shaking her head at the pair of them as they sat like mini Buddha’s discussing the way of the world.

God he missed her.

Once when she had been ill he had held her close, feeling the softness of the curls as he breathed in the scent of her hair. Listening in an almost reverent silence as she suckled gently on the thumb resting in her mouth, a habit they had never managed to break.

It was a moment, in a life defined by moments this was the one he remembered most often.

Brought back to the present Tom eased forward in the traffic until he was back to a standstill again, at this rate he wasn’t only going to be late, but very late, Lara was going to have a fit! Fumbling in his bag he pulled out his phone and connected it to the blue tooth, pressing the number for home as he placed it on the holder. After a few rings Lara picked the phone up

“Please don’t tell me you are stuck in traffic?” Lara’s voice purred over the line, she had such a beautiful voice, he had first heard it when they had worked in different departments of the same firm, and it was that voice that had drawn him towards her.

“Yeah baby, I’m stuck in traffic. Right where you said I would be, I’m a klutz I know it!”He replied looking at the row of cars to his left that seemed to be moving a little faster than his lane.

“Oh Christ Tom, the babysitters already here and the Jenkins are expecting us at.....half past seven” he pictured her looking at the watch he had bought for her, that look of disappointment and anger that he found so sexy across her face as she did.

“I know baby, I’m an idiot. It could be another hour before I get off the motorway, so why don’t you go on and I’ll get home, shower and catch you up at the restaurant?” Tom could hear the sigh of disappointment from his wife, after a few seconds she spoke

“Ok, I will leave the restaurant details by the phone, text me when you are leaving”

After the usual goodbyes and love you’s the call disconnected and Tom was sat in the relative silence of the car once more.

Drumming his fingers against the wheel once more, Tom looked to see if he could see the car with the child in it, but it had either passed by or slipped behind, the vehicle next to him now proclaimed

Woods wood!! Better than real wood!!

A picture of an over happy man holding up a piece of laminate accompanied the logo and Tom chuckled to himself, the world had some strange ideas.

The cars began to edge forward again and Tom followed. This time he was close enough to see the problem. A line of cars were trying to get across to a field for the concert and one particularly old beetle had decided to leave most of its engine straddled across the two outer lanes of the motorway. A harassed looking policeman was trying his hardest to direct traffic, his face red and sweaty. 

The owner of the beetle a middle aged man with psychedelic trousers and long blonde dreadlocks puffed on a cigarette while staring at the remains of his car, sadness akin to grief etched upon his face. The traffic slowed to a halt again as a recovery lorry pulled up on the hard shoulder and with a spurt of frantic hand waving from the police officer managed to park itself in front of the gutted beetle.

Glancing at the led display in the car dashboard Tom watched as the time ticked over to seven thirty nine, dammit!! At this rate the restaurant would be closed by the time he got there and Lara would be more than annoyed. From behind him in the traffic he heard the squeal of brakes and the familiar sound of folding metal as it hit something, people not watching the road no doubt, thank goodness its behind me though Tom, his eyes watching the slow ministrations of the recovery driver who seemed to be on time and a half considering his pace of work. The police officer seemed to be distracted by something further up the motorway and after shouting something ineligible to the recovery guy he began to walk towards the sound of the accident, straight past Tom’s car. A series of shouts from behind Toms car and he switched off the engine, un clipped his seatbelt and was out of the car and in the road before he realised it, along with a few others who all looked off into the distance towards where the shouting had been coming from. Walking at a quick pace Tom saw the policeman returning back up the road, his face now pale.

“Get back in your cars now!! Or I will arrest all of you” He caught Toms eye for a second before looking away, and Tom recognised the look.

 It was fear.

He had seen that too many times in the eyes of Lara just recently.

A few drivers including Tom tried to see what was happening in the direction of the shouts but all was now silent

“Get in your cars now!! This is your last warning” the policeman shouted at the few drivers who were left before directing his gaze at the recovery guy and striding towards him.

“Get that engine off this road, now! I don’t care how you do it, just move it.”  He kept looking back up the road as if expecting something to follow him. Tom stepped back in the car and started the engine. The recovery van pulled both the beetle carcass and then the engine to the side of the road scraping a huge gouge in the tarmac. With a sense of urgency the solo police man began to wave the cars through, his face a look of concentration. As Tom passed him by, he looked over at the police officer and he saw the tears, streaming down his face.

Part of him wanted to know what would cause a grown man to cry like that and a trained police officer too. But the pit of fear in his stomach made him push down harder on the accelerator, and with the blockage cleared and the traffic increasing in speed. Tom drove faster than he had ever before, a sense of dread and the unknown chasing him up the motorway.

So it would seem I am also not that good at keeping up with a blog!!

Last post was may and it is now September.. the nights are drawing in and soon it will be time to hunt the dusty Christmas decs out and get in the festive mood for the big fat jolly fella coming for a visit.

Since my last post I have been mostly writing. I now have four books for sale on Amazon and I am still sending out letters to a whole plethora of agents and publishers hoping that maybe someone will see the spark of passion that I have for the written word. Here is the link to my Author profile on Amazon if you would like to have a look.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Marie-Bishop/e/B00EMWVF2O/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Just copy and paste into your search bar and away you go.

And this next link is my twitter feed for my short random musings

https://twitter.com/mazblondie

I have also decided to serialise a book I have been writing, this is so I can get my work out there into the public domain and maybe get people talking about my work, and give my vocal chords a rest :) So hang on to your trousers, or skirts and I will begin that serialisation sometime today.!!! Marie xxx

Write About Now

I guess in this first post I should spend time explaining who I am, what I do, but I don't think I have ever been one to play by the rules, so I am hoping through my writings I will evolve, right in front of your eyes, like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon.... see even on my blog I manage to sound poetically twee :)

A mini brief all about me, I am Marie, and I am a WRITER (said in the exact same way as Rachael Weisz did in the mummy to Brendan Fraser when they are on the hunt for the amazingly wonderful golden goodies) anyway, i have been writing for a very long time, When I was younger I made silly little newspapers in the summer holidays that I would try and flog to all of my long suffering neighbours. Since then I have written poetry, and self published three books on Amazon, I am also a serial book starter and procrastinate too much when i should be getting these crazy worlds out of my mind and on to the page .

As you may also have noticed I am a bit of a rambler(and I don't mean with wellies on in a muddy farmers field type of rambler rambler) so my posts may very often go off on a tangent at any time, I will if I feel one coming along try my best to warn you, but even I get surprised sometimes.

As this is my first post I will try not to bore you too greatly,I shall wait till the second and probably every post AFTER this one to bore you as i take you on a journey through my world, as I try to find a way to get my writing out there amongst all of the other very talented writers

Hang on tight, it could possibly be a strange and bumpy ride

marie

oh I like crafts too, and Benedict Cumbersausage and chocolate, so they may very well get a mention in her too

And dogs, I love dogs, especially mine :)