Ghost Story

Jane slipped out of the house as silently as she could, the door
closing behind her with a tiny click. She stood perfectly still on the
front step for a few seconds, just to check that all was normal inside
and that no-one was going to call out after her.

She could hear her brother's computer game whirring and screeching
from his bedroom above her head and the familiar cough of her father
from the sitting room to her left. Her mother was in the kitchen at the
back of the house and could not be heard at all. She set off down the
yard and into the street at the bottom.

It was already dark, the lights were on but the street was quiet. It
was too early in the year for very many tourists, the only people
around in this part of town were locals, going to the pub perhaps or
still making their way home from work. Sean was waiting where they had
arranged, leaning out over the river at the east end of the bridge. He
turned as he heard her steps and faced her, smiling, his hands thrust
into his jeans pockets. She kissed him on the cheek and threaded one
arm through his.

"No problems?" he asked.
"I told them earlier I was going out with Melanie, and then I just
slipped out so they couldn't ask me any questions."
"They'll ask them when you get back." he said.
"I'll worry about that at the time. Where are we going?"
"Nowhere."
"Oh, come on Sean, we have to do something, I can't get into trouble
for no reason!" she pleaded "We could walk down the pier, see if there
is anyone around, go for a drink."
"I've no money." he replied
"Nor me." she laughed "We're a right pair aren't we?"

She would not argue with him. Her parents, well mainly her father,
disliked Sean and had banned her from seeing him. She had to lie to
them, get her friends to cover up for her whenever she went out with
him, so she wasn't going to let this organised occasion be
spoiled.

They wandered across the bridge and down the pier road, it was quiet
down there at this time of year with only the pubs showing much life,
but it was one of the places that they hung around, Sean's crowd, some
of her friends. The amusement arcades were closed, but a cafe was open.
They peered into the lighted interior but there was no-one they knew,
no-one who could buy them a coke.They stood overlooking the harbour
hand in hand, Sean kissed her gently, there was nothing much to
say.

On top of the cliff opposite the church and abbey were dark against the
sky.Sean nodded his head in their direction.
"They look quite spooky in the spring and winter." he said "Without
the illuminations."
Jane looked up at the cliff. "More like they must have looked over the
centuries." she replied."Instead of tacky tourist traps."
"I've heard a story about what happens if you stand in the church
porch tonight." he continued.
"Tonight?" Jane was intrigued "What's so special about tonight?"
"My gran was telling me. She's full of stories about the old Whitby.I
can never tell what's true and what are just stories. Tonight is April
24th, St.Mark's Eve.She said that if you stand in the church porch
tonight you will see phantoms going by."
"Phantoms? I bet you can see them any night, except when there are too
many holiday makers."
"Should we go and look?" he was only half serious, some of his gran's
stories were quite scary, but he wasn't going to let Jane know that
they frightened him.
"Might as well, there's nothing else to do and I'm freezing, standing
here."

Sean put his arm around her and pulled her close to warm her up and
they slowly set off back up the pier road and over the bridge. They
were very close to her house, but she knew none of them would be out,
not in the cold, not on a weekday evening.

They climbed the 101 steps, here the street lamps were intermittent and
created pools of dull light at intervals, leaving some of the steps in
darkness. They were quite out of breath when they reached the top and
stopped to look down. They had a fabulous view
of the town from where they stood.
"You can understand why people like to come here can't you?" she
said.
"They don't have to live here all year, with nothing to do, no work,
no money."
"You shouldn't have left school." she said, sounding like her father,
she thought. "Maybe then you'd have found a job."
"I doubt it." he shrugged and turned towards the church. It looked
very forbidding, as bleak as his outlook, he thought.
"Where do you have to stand?" she asked as they made their way to the
church. Even she was feeling a little spooked by it. It was dark, it
was cold and the wind had risen a little, and was whistling around the
church, setting the long grass rustling.

"In the church porch."
"All night?"
"We can't do that." he said "You'll really be in trouble then, and I
want to keep on seeing you."

There was a small bench inside the porch and they sat in there, huddled
up together, kissing occasionally, talking quietly. The atmosphere
didn't seem right for any serious snogging.

"What time is it ?" he asked after they had been there some time. He
didn't have a watch.
"10." she replied. "I will have to go soon. School tomorrow. And I
haven't done all my homework."
"Don't rub it in."
"I didn't mean to. It's just a fact of life."
He stood up."I knew we wouldn't see any phantoms. My gran's stories !"
he laughed. "Let's go."

She followed him. At the top of the stairs they stopped and looked over
at the view again.
"There's someone coming up the steps." Jane said and squinted through
the darkness to see properly.
"It's too noisy to be a phantom!"
Sean grabbed her and pulled her into the darkness on the donkey path at
the side of the steps. She gave a tiny scream.
"What is it?" she said.
"Your dad." he replied "He must be looking for you."
"Oh no! Mum must have phoned Melanie's Mum. I thought that would
happen eventually. If we go down the path instead of the steps very
quietly he might not see us. I can get home first. I'll have some
explaining to do."

They tip toed down the path, above them the steps rose towards the top
of the cliff. They could hear Jane's father as he wheezed up the climb.
He stopped every five or six steps and struggled for breath. They could
his cough clearly through the cold air.
"I can't believe he would come out looking for me." Jane said as they
reached the bottom. "It's so cold and his chest is really bad tonight
.He must be very cross."

Sean was worried. He knew that Jane would defy her father only so far,
and that getting her A levels was important to her.She wouldn't leave
home and give up school for him, yet there was no other way that they
would be able to see each other, unless something happened to her
father, if he were to have a change of heart.
"I'll see you home." he said " Your dad will take ages to come down
again. I can see you in and get away before he sees me."
"What am I going to say?"
"Tell him we were saying good bye.That we are not going to see each
other anymore."
"Sean, what do you mean? Are you finishing with me?"
"Only for a little while. A fortnight maybe. Let the dust
settle."
She threw herself at him.
"No not even for a week. "
"You will have to. We'll work something out." He took her hand.
"C'mon."
They walked silently to Jane's front door. The same lights were on.
They stood on the door step and gently kissed. Jane was crying
softly.

"Don't cry." he said "Tell him we are not seeing each other any
more.Make him happy and I will work out something."
"What will you work out? What can change? You're just throwing me
over. I thought you loved me." Her voice rose above the whispers they
were using. They could hear sounds from indoors.
He kissed her .
"I do love you." he said.
The door burst open behind them, light flooded out catching them in its
glare like rabbits in a car head lamp.
"I thought I could hear you." her father shouted. "Get in, you." he
said to Jane and pushed her roughly into the house. She was scared and
shocked. She couldn't understand how he had got to the house first.
There was no back way in.

Her father turned on Sean who was standing transfixed, unable to move ,
eyes wide staring at Jane's father, his face drained of blood.
"Get out of here, you loser." Jane's father was shouting, although the
effort was making him cough. He leant against the door.

Sean recovered his composure and called Jane's name.
"Let me see her.!" he said."I have to tell her something."
Jane's father was coughing very badly now. He managed to get a few
words out before he slammed the door.
"Over my dead body!." he said.

In the dark yard Sean leant against the wall and called out to the
house windows, where the lights inside could be seen faintly through
the drawn curtains. It seemed very cold now, a sea mist was curling its
way through the narrow street and up into the small yard. The street
lights dimmed.
"Jane! I didn't explain everything to you in my gran's story about
what really happens on St.Mark's Eve. The phantoms we were meant to
see! Jane!"
He could hear Jane's father shouting and coughing inside the house but
no-one came out to him .They could not hear him, so he spoke quietly to
the closed door instead.

"They are not ghosts of people who are already dead, Jane. What you
see are the ghosts of people who are going to die, who are going to die
in the following year! "
But there was no response, the door stayed closed.
Sean turned and walked off into the mist.