Burn

'You know that they wouldn't build here for years?'
Said Rachel as she and Helen were having far too many drinks. They were celebrating Helen's new home, and new independence.
Helen bleary eyed and barely capable by now of sustaining any conversation
suddenly found a subject to engage her interest.
'Why not? I thought that it was because of the marsh?'
'What marsh?' Rachel had lived in the area for some considerable time
longer than Helen had. 'It is nothing to do with a marsh. It' because
the site was supposed to have been used for the burning of
witches'
Helen laughed loudly, amazed that people could still believe such
superstitions.
'It's all rubbish. You know my views well enough on stuff like
that'
Rachel was in no mood to press the point further, despite having a
tendency to drift off, Helen could be very determined in her
opinions.
They left the subject there for the night, and it was not long before
they went to bed. Rachel slept, uncomfortably and irritably, in the
spare room.
Helen was usually a heavy sleeper but tonight was different. The early
September light was warm, but Helen was conscious of a creeping
coldness.
It was around three in the morning that Helen decided she had had
enough and made her way downstairs to the kitchen. As she stepped on
the bare floorboards, a searing cold swept up her legs. She thought
that it could not be this cold in September and quickly sprinted down
the stairs.
The light in the kitchen buzzed and flickered, and Helen saw that
Rachel had followed her down.
'The stairs are freezing' said Helen.
Rachel had to admit, uneasily, that she had not noticed.
'You must have!' Helen was getting agitated. She was in no mood for
weak jokes.
Rachel was insistent that she had felt nothing and was becoming
perturbed at Helen's defensiveness. Helen made coffee without speaking
of the matter further, whilst Rachel decided, as before, to leave the
issue at rest. However, the silence between them soon became so
palpable, that Rachel, against her normally reticent instincts, decided
to seek.
'I'm really unsure about this place'
'Well I am definitely sure' Helen replied 'There are no buts, no
stories about witches, I like it here'
Rachel backed down but wished to keep the conversation going.
'The garden, what you need out there is a huge bonfire'
'Why? To burn witches?' Replied Helen, half mockingly.
The mood lightened and as dawn came up they talked of working in the
garden and dismantling the two old sheds. They then went back to bed
the thought of the work to do occupying their minds.

For all of the next week, Rachel and Helen spent their time taking down
the sheds that were falling apart anyway, and collecting together all
the other debris that had collected
In the enormous garden. The, on a Saturday afternoon they lit the
bonfire Rachel so keenly wanted.
They had piled up all the junk at the far end, only a short distance
away from the boundary with the fields behind. After they lit the pile,
they stood back admiring the flames against the late summer sky as if
enjoying a pagan festival.
The fire had been burning for about half an hour when Helen saw
something just behind the boundary wall.
'I wonder who that is watching?'
Rachel looked but saw nothing, Helen alternatively, saw a figure in the
field standing still and, curiously, wearing a crash helmet. She ran
closer and he, she was definite about the sex, stood quite still, but
was raising his arm. Helen was about to shout to him but he turned and
walked away, going out of sight as he turned off the field toward the
bend in the main road.
Helen was out of breath when she got back.
'He's gone' she said to Rachel
'Gone where? I didn't see anything'
'There was a man there, wearing a crash helmet'
Rachel dug her heels in and was insistent she saw nothing.

The incident did not bother either of them until a week later, when,
again on a Saturday evening, Helen was in the kitchen.
She thought initially she heard a rustling noise coming from the
hallway. It was as if someone was wearing leather boots that were
rubbing together with each step. She felt compelled to see what it was
even though it was getting louder and she was getting more
worried.
Once she saw the object of her curiosity her mood worsened.
There in the hallway was the figure she had seen before. It was obvious
now that he was wearing no crash helmet, she knew enough from Tim's
interest in militaria that he was wearing a lobster pot helmet with a
grill covering the top of his unshaven face. He was also wearing
thigh-high leather riding boots and a gloved hand was reaching out to
her.
Helen tried to speak but was petrified against all her rational
instincts how was it that a figure from centuries ago was standing
plainly in front of her?
She felt she had been staring at the figure for at least half an hour
(in reality it was barely a minute), when he turned and appeared to
walk thought he front door. Helen fell to the ground in shock.

For the next month, Rachel stayed with Helen. She noticed that while
Helen's mood had not really changed she was scared of being alone and
Rachel could never go anywhere at night, or in the early evening,
especially at weekends.
Rachel was beginning to tire of the dependence. It is wonderful to be
needed but draining to be required constantly.
One day in late October, Rachel had to travel home to see her mother.
Helen was very unhappy at the idea but relented when she said she would
be back by early evening.
To her surprise, Rachel's journey back to The Laurels took longer than
expected that day, when she eventually got there she found Helen in a
highly nervous and agitated state.
'He's here! He's here!' she cried 'in the hallway again'
Rachel struggled to calm her friend and went straight to the hall. She
felt she could smell burning and called Helen who was lighting another
cigarette. She turned to call again and noticed that the smell was
coming from behind her in the kitchen. Rachel ran back and saw Helen
lying on the floor, smoke billowing around her and a figure, to Rachel
a soldier from a bygone age, wearing what could be seen as a crash
helmet butt obviously wasn't, it was a helmet with a visor, standing over her crying
'Burn witch, burn'