Poppy Darke

by Colin Wraight

  The bike wobbled at first, and she had to put her foot down more than once, but after two laps of the garden Poppy sailed past her Granddad and out on to the road. “This is brilliant...Thank you so much.”

  Nathaniel Darke senior watched her ride up and down the street, gaining confidence and speed with every circuit. After a short while his old legs began to ache and he needed a sit down. Then he noticed a little boy sitting quietly on the neighbors’ wall, he gave him a wink and a smile and returned into the warmth of the house.

  Poppy also spotted the little boy. “Jesse... I haven’t seen you for ages where have you been hiding all this time?”

  Jesse was still thinking about the old man winking at him. “Who was that man? I think he just smiled at me!”

  Poppy who was now riding in ever decreasing circles began laughing. “Why shouldn’t he smile at you...? That was my Granddad... He’s a professor of archaeology and a famous writer... He’s been on television you know.”

  Jesse shrugged and then folded his arms. “So what!”

  “What’s the matter with you?” Poppy asked as she stopped riding and put her feet on the ground. “Have you been told off for something?”

  The biggest problem with been a ghost is that the novelty of it all soon wears off and is replaced by mind numbing boredom. Especially if the only person in the world who can see you doesn’t know that you’re a ghost. “I want to tell you a secret Poppy? Do you promise not to tell a living soul...? Cross your heart and hope to die!”

  “You can tell me anything... Cross my heart.” she said.

  “Would you...” he stuttered nervously as he forced the words out of his mouth. “Would you still be my friend if I told you that I was a .....?”

  Her mums’ shouting was unmistakable. “Poppy your tea is ready... Get that bike put away and change out of your school uniform!”

  “I can’t come out after tea, I’ve got some homework to do but I’ll see you tomorrow and you can tell me whatever it is then...!”

  Jesse nodded. “See you then.”

  “Bye.” Poppy felt rotten leaving him out in the cold like that. “Why don’t you come in and have some tea with us? You can meet my Granddad.”

  “No thanks... I’ve just had a great big pizza and some chips. I think I’ll just go home now.” Jesse lied, he hadn’t eaten for maybe a year or more, he couldn’t even remember what things tasted like anymore. He waited until his friend was out of sight and vanished.

  Poppy locked the bike in an old shed at the bottom of the garden, and grinned with excitement as she thought about riding it to school in the morning. The smell of stew and dumplings wafted across the garden and drew her quickly to the back door; she wiped her feet on the mat and entered.

  “Did you see my bike Mum?” She asked as she ran past on her way to her bedroom. “Can I go to school on it tomorrow? Loads of other kids go on theirs... I won’t even have to ride on the road, there’s a bridle path all the way... I promise...”

  Suddenly Poppy ceased talking, and a deathly silence hung in the air for what seemed like an age. Mrs. Darke stopped dishing up the mashed potatoes and gazed at the ceiling, almost as if she could see right through the floorboards and granddads eyes darted nervously across the newspaper he was pretending to read.

  It wasn’t much of a scream, just a little one by Poppy’s standards, but needless to say anyone walking by outside would have thought blue murder was taking place and called the police.

  Anne Darke and Granddad came to that same conclusion at the same time and both shouted Poppy’s name at the top of their voices as they scrambled up the stairs together. Bursting through her bedroom door they almost collapsed in a heap.

  “Hello Granddad!” Poppy Said. “I think I’ve found you’re dog... I came in and it was just lying there... I didn’t know what it was at first”

  The great black dog lay sprawled out on the bed; he seemed to survey Poppy with complete disinterest and then glanced at Granddad. Then he yawned and shuffled around a little to get more comfortable and went back to sleep.

  “Mum, aren’t you going to get that thing off my bed...? I’ve got to sleep in there later.”

  “I’d leave him well alone if I were you.” She replied. “Why don’t we all go downstairs and have tea... Maybe he’ll follow us when he’s ready.”

  “Mum... There’s a stinking dog lying on my bed. God knows where it’s been.”

  “Poor thing looks shattered after all that travelling... Don’t wake him!”

  “For god sake Mum, it’s just an old dog.” Cried Poppy and before anyone could stop her she tried to push him off the bed. She heaved with every ounce of strength, she tried pushing and that didn’t work, so she grabbed his collar and tried pulling but nothing she did moved the stubborn old dog. “It’s not even asleep, I just saw him open his eyes! Shoo... Shoo”

  “Poppy!” Her Mother Barked. “Stop annoying Midnight and come down stairs at once.”

  “Why don’t you ask him politely?” Granddad said.

  Poppy shook her head in disgust. “Dog, please could you get off of my bed and leave my bedroom... Please?”

  This time it was Granddads turn to pull a face at Poppy. “He’s got a name you know!”

  “Please get out of my bedroom... Midnight.”

  The dog stirred lazily and opened his eyes; he blinked twice as if he was getting use to the light and then fixed his gaze upon the young girls face. Poppy found herself staring back into those dark brown eyes and was slightly disturbed by the intelligence they seemed to possess.

  “Come on!” Granddad said. “Time to go boy... Poppy doesn’t want you slavering all over her bed sheets.”

  Midnight instantly jumped to the floor, walked over to his master and sat by his side.

  “Bye!” Poppy said sarcastically and waved at the dog, who just stared back at her. “Well go on then everybody shoo... I want to get changed.”

  All through tea the dog stared at her, he sat and watched her wash the pots and then stared some more as she made everyone a cup of tea. As Poppy finally sat down to start her homework all vestiges of patience evaporated, the dog was still staring at her.

  “Granddad please, the dog won’t leave me alone. He’s been staring at me for hours... Is there something wrong with him?”

  “I know... I’ve never seen him like this before. I think he likes you!”

  “Really... What does he do to the ones he doesn’t like?”

  “Oh he eats them... Don’t you boy.”

  The dog seemed to understand he was being talked about and trotted over to his master to have the fur on his head ruffled.

  “He’s a very special dog is our Midnight! Did I ever tell you how I found him? Now there’s a story... It was the first novel I ever wrote!” His eyes seemed to drift off to some distant past as he remembered those chilling events.

  “Oh I remember that book ... It was called ‘Death at Midnight’... I think I have a copy upstairs.” Said Poppy and opened her own exercise book. “But I thought those books you wrote were just stories that you made up.”

  Poppy’s Mum threw the magazine she was reading down on the coffee table. “Nathaniel!” She said and raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps you should leave all this till she’s old enough to understand better.”

  “All what? What are you talking about?” Poppy asked.

  “Maybe you’re right.” He said and stood up. “I need some air... I’ll take the dog out for ten minutes.”

  “But Granddad I thought you were going to tell me how you met Midnight.”

  “Some other time perhaps... You’ve got homework to do young lady.” Then he turned his attention to the dog, who was still staring at Poppy. “Midnight... Come on lets go for a walk!”

  Poppy rushed through the work her math teacher had set and didn’t mind that she must have gotten quite a few questions wrong, all she could think about was that book ‘Death at Midnight’. It was upstairs in her cupboard and tonight she would read it.
Tonight she would find out what exactly her mother didn’t want her to know.

  Chapter 11

  Every draw lay on the floor with its contents spilled and mixed up, old dolls and long since discarded teddy bears rubbed ragged shoulders with dog eared board games. Cupboard doors gaped half open with clothes bulging out. Some had already escaped and formed messy little piles on the floor. With packing cases upturned and shoes strewn across the carpet the room looked like it had been ransacked. Poppy gave a loud sigh; she hadn’t even started looking for the book yet.

  “Where would it be? Come on Poppy!”

  She kicked a shoe across the room and sat on her bed.” Right!” She said to herself. “Things that are missing always turn up in the very last place you look... So all I’ve got to do is figure out the last place I’d look.” She slowly began to scan the room, mentally going through where she would search first. “It wouldn’t be under the bed, that’s just too easy... Not in the cupboard or draws either, and the packing cases are empty. “So by logical deduction the book should be...” She stood up and walked over to the window. “On the window ledge behind the curtains!” Snatching the curtains back she was more than shocked to find absolutely nothing. “Ok, so there must be another last place on earth I’d look... Of course, that’s it!”

  She marched over to her bin that was overflowing with all kinds of rubbish, from tissues to sweet wrappers and everything in between. Plunging her hand to the bottom, she rummaged around and fished out the book. Holding the book aloft she smiled to herself.

  “And now for family secrets!” She said and made herself comfortable on the bed. “Death at Midnight by Nathaniel Darke.”

  Poppy skipped the blurb and the preface and went straight to page 1. She read the first paragraphs with some considerable interest, but as always she quickly got bored and turned to the last chapter. By the end of the page Poppy was fast asleep, dreaming of monsters and great black dogs.

  She could see her Granddad, it was definitely him but considerably younger. He was carrying a sword and sweating, there was blood pouring down the side of his face and his clothes were stained and badly torn. Poppy called out to him, he was only yards away, but he didn’t hear. He was chasing something or someone down a rocky slope, maybe he was being chased as well because he kept looking over his shoulder.

  Poppy followed and hid behind a rock when she heard voices. Peering over the top she saw another, much taller man, dressed in a red and black cloak with a golden hood. He was holding Nathaniel Darke by the throat with one hand, and almost choking the life out of him. The sword lay on the floor some distance away.

  “You dare to pursue me through the gates of hell... You will die human!” The man screamed in anger.

  Poppy panicked at the sight of her Granddad being murdered. “No.” She screamed and ran out from behind the rock. Right at the back of her drowsy imagination poppy knew she was dreaming and anything can happen in the land of nod.

  The man or creature or whatever it was, was now looking straight at Poppy and hissing. Suddenly Poppy was flying or floating across the dark chasm which separated them. As she landed her granddad fell to his knees and was almost gasping his last breath. Poppy pointed at the sword which now lay at her feet, it shuddered slightly and then began to magically levitate towards her Granddad.

  “Granddad!” She screamed. “Take the sword!”

  He seemed to find his very last spark of life from somewhere and grasped the hilt; he looked directly at Poppy and winked. Then he thrust the sword in to the body of the hideous creature, it screamed in agony as bright light shone out of the wounds illuminating the whole cave.

  Then it was gone and all that was left was its cloak and the sack it had failed to protect.

  Granddad leaned on the bloodstained sword and climbed to his feet. “Finally, I have the last ‘Hell Hound’” He said and exhausted, picked up the sack. He untied the string top and tipped it upside down.

  Poppy could hear the whimpering even before she saw the contents tumble onto the cave floor. The tiny black puppy cowered in terror and slinked back against the cave wall.

  “I cast thee back to hell.” He cried and raised his sword high above his head ready to cast the final blow.

  Poppy stood on her tiptoes and gently whispered one word in his ear. That word was ‘Midnight’.

  The sword lowered slightly as her granddad nervously glanced about the cave. “Who are you...? Where are you?” He never consciously heard any words but sensed something sharing the moment with him.

  Poppy realized he could no longer see her and remembered it was all just a dream. Again she whispered the word ‘Midnight’ into his ear.

  “I understand.” He cried as sweat streamed down his cheeks. He dropped the sword and fell to his knees. “An Angel has given you a reprieve, and it would seem she has also given you a name.” He held out his hand. “Come here Midnight, come here boy.”

  Poppy drifted back to consciousness and woke with a jump as the book fell on the floor. She picked it up and turned to the very last page.

  Near death with exhaustion and thirst, I struggled to the surface. Passing the broken body of my dead friend, Boneshiner Slaven Bilious, I took time to bury the parts which I could find and comfort in the fact that he had died in combat with his mortal enemy. After two days wandering through the jungle I stumbled across a village and was saved.

  I would just like to say thank you to the Angel who whispered in my ear- You saved our lives.

  The end

  Nathaniel Darke will return in ‘The Demon Circus’

  Poppy slammed the book shut. “Oh my god!” She cried. “Oh my god! Slaven Bilious... With a name like that he must have been a Goyle. They are real... I’m not going mad... I didn’t imagine them after all!”

  Leaping off the bed Poppy hurriedly put her shoes back on and ran down stairs. “Where’s Granddad?” She cried. “I’ve got to speak to him!”

  “He’s still out with the dog... But you’ll have to wait until he comes back; it’s past your curfew.”

  Poppy was already out the door and sprinting along the road, her mother’s threats chased her up the path but fell on deaf ears. It was dark and spitting with rain and the street lamps barely managed to light anything up except their own posts. Poppy slowed to a jog as the rain turned to a fine drizzle, there was no sign of her Granddad or his dog and Poppy wondered where on earth they could have got to.

  Suddenly she caught the sound of distant voices; they were muffled by the wind and she couldn’t quite hear what they were saying. She came to a halt and listened as she tried to figure out where they were coming from.

  Poppy headed over to a gap in some hedges and realized that she was once again on the edge of the graveyard. Poking her head through she could clearly see her Granddad and Midnight standing by the secret door to the Goyles lair. What really shocked her was the sight of Gulp Rottenoffle holding out his hand for her Granddad to shake, which he did with a smile on his face. Then Poppy heard him say ‘goodnight old friend’ as Gulp waved him off and went back inside the church.

  Poppy waited in the bus shelter by the cemetery gates and she didn’t have to wait long. Midnight bounded up as if he hadn’t seen her for ages, he was wagging his tail and forcing his head onto her lap to be stroked.

  “Get off of me!” She said angrily. “You’re wet and you stink.”

  Suddenly a voice leapt out of the darkness. “Poppy!” It said and then she saw him framing the entrance to the shelter, rain poured off his cap onto his already drenched shoulders. “What on earth are you doing out here?”

  Poppy jumped to her feet in anger. “I saw you... I saw you with them! And all the time I thought that I was going mad or something... They’re real... They’re all real!”

  “Just calm down a minute dear and tell me what you saw!”

  “Don’t try and deny it... I saw you shaking hands with Gulp Rottenoffle... The Goyle!”

  He was silent for several seconds, and
then. “Yes... I... I know you can see them?” He spluttered. “They were just telling me how you saved the little one... How did you save him Poppy? What you did was impossible!”

  Tears mixed with the rain on her face and trickled down her cheeks. “But I thought... I thought that I was seeing... monsters!” She cried and hugged him.

  “Poppy listen to me, this is very important! Have you seen or felt anything out of the ordinary... Have there been any strangers near the house?”

  “This is the countryside Granddad... Everyone is strange! The whole place is completely weird.” Then she looked toward the church. “Those Goyles aren’t in any books... I know because I’ve looked and they aren’t on the internet either. They can speak and they can fly... Tell me the truth! Are they ...Aliens?”

  “No they’re not Aliens, Goyles are the good guys and Gulp Rottenoffle is the bravest of them all. They are here for one reason and one reason only...”

  “And what is that?”

  “By protecting the dead they save the living!”

  “I don’t understand!” Said poppy and sat back down on the bench.

  “The soul of any creature is precious, but a human soul is the greatest prize of them all.” He said and held out his hand to Poppy. “Come, I’ll walk you home.”

  Poppy frowned and stood up. “But who are the Goyles protecting the dead from?”

  “Demons... They protect us all from the Demons that prowl the shadows of the night, consuming souls whenever they can. These days those vile creatures are few and far between thank god. But once upon a time not more than four hundred years ago there was a great army of demons and their allies the Gobelinus... Just twelve brave Goyles stood between them and the people of London. That battle became known to all Goyles the world over as ‘The battle of Finsbury Fields’. “

  “Will you tell me the story Granddad?”

  He nodded in reply and then said. “But first I must tell you about your ancestors, William and Ruby Darke, Witch hunters!”