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”